Honestly, I know my brain would be better served writing about Susan Sontag (seems everyone knows that Jerry Orbach passed away last weekend, but few are talking about the death – the day before – of activist-intellectual Sontag), health care as a feminist issue or the serious need for an Innocence Project in Texas, but, I am preoccupied with my Cube…
My washroom key for a union, I say!
But, alas, unions never quite made it to the private, white collar world and are steadily disappearing even from the public and blue economies. Going with them are the sense of empowerment and productivity they provided through strong representation and employment security.
Employment security? What a relic. Trust no one; assume nothing are the new mantras of the job-insecure set. Lately, actual employment – vs. contractor / freelance status – is a luxury in itself. Foolish are those that swear they’ll still have their cushy – or even their intolerable - gigs next year. Employers demand time and talents well beyond employment agreements and – in exchange – layoff at will.
Nearly one-third of the workers worry about the threat of job loss and uncertainty about future employment. And, that study is from Australia – not exactly the paragon of cut-throat business culture. The results are physical: depression, anxiety, higher susceptibility to viruses, but they are also environmental. Employees cluster to talk about the latest threat; everyone has an updated resume on her hard-drive; distrust prevails.
But then…
I walk into my new gig this morning and see what looked like irrational optimism: enough personal decoration to require a laid-off worker to trade the customary empty copy-paper box for a minivan, or perhaps a UHaul to clear her desk.
Much of the work space is small offices or equivalently-sized cubes (nice ones – spacious, high walls – a big window for Miss Leigh). Many of them are decorated in ways that suggest trust. An AE has a runner on her file cabinet, decorative pillows on her chairs. An account coordinator has a wall of pictures. A director repainted. Others are nearly overrun with stuff – from the merely pretty (flowers, framed photos) to the lightly nutty (what I believe was a life-size paper mache Scooby Doo).
My personal Cube Philosophy has always been Minimalist. Assuming that layoffs are equally as likely as continued employment, I don’t like to lay down roots. I am passing through. I would rather walk out tossing my purse over my shoulder than lugging an embarrassing collection of personal mementos. That employer isn’t attached to me; I should show the same restraint.
But, what now? In an office filled with such optimism? To decorate or not to decorate? That is the absurd question of my evening … Do I shun what is obviously a deep vein this agency’s culture? Or do I engage in a little irrational confidence of my own?
Opinions?
