Culture Cube
At Intel, our internal employee intranet 'newsletter' is called Circuit. Over the past year or so, Circuit -- and really all of Intel's internal online tools ranging from a very fertile internal blog to our very own wiki (called Intelpedia) -- have been upgraded to be much more 'social media-ized."
One of the more popular daily features allows employees to submit a survey poll, which then the rest of us can vote and view the results. Some are very helpful, such as when I asked employees to vote on how they get their news and from what media and blogs.
Today's caught my eye - it asked: "what is the most annoying workplace cube habit?" The vote buttons included a. loud talkers; b. fingernail clipping; c. stinky lunches; d. too much personal info on the phone; e. loud-ringing phone; and f. too much socializing.
Before I reveal my vote, and ask for yours, two things struck me. First, the question and fact that Intel has a survey and allows questions like this alone provides more than just a glimpse into our culture. And second, it begs the question of whether cubes are effective in a work environment.
If you mostly value your job based on title and/or office size, Intel isn't for you. Cubes have been around forever, and yes our CEO has one. In the PR department, we all carry pretty much the same title, Media or Analyst Relations Manager, whether you're a college grad or veteran.
Cubes were put in by Intel many, many years ago to encourage socializing, discussion and speed of decision-making. Every single day, you will find people in each other's cubes (or yelling over them) debating, proposing and having some fun. We've even taken a couple of floors in Oregon, Arizona and California and are testing concept offices that have zero walls and more temporary areas for telecommuters.
Incidentally, Conan O'Brien was at Intel in 2007 and really had a good time mocking our cube culture. Worth the watch.
So, I voted c - stinky lunches. Almost 15,000 Intel employees voted today. 'Loud talking' is winning overall by almost a 2:1 ratio. So here's where I apologize to my cube-mates: being greek, I don't doubt that I indeed have some weird-smelling food sometimes, and being in PR with a loud voice, I probably qualify for q, e and f, too. Apologies.
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Comments
Mar 13 | Robert Hallock said:
I'm a big nerd that always appreciates an obscure geek reference on a ringer (Mine is Dr. Wily stage 1 from Mega Man 2), but I just get irked when the ringer is too loud.
All the rest is fair game! Weird lunches, loud talking, socializing... All of these are important parts of a productive business to me. They certainly help me focus, rather than distract.
Mar 16 | Becky Emmett said:
I too dislike the stinky lunch concept.
And really, isn't the whole idea of cube land an effort to encourage socialization and collaborative environments? Come on people, we don't live in a cube farm to hide! Get out, say hello to your neighbor. Talk loud, share your personal conversations, etc (just remember to enjoy that smelly lunch in the cafe instead of your desk).