A reader writes:
Is there a method to ask to see your future workspace earlier than you settle for a job provide or in some unspecified time in the future within the interview course of, with out it being unusual?
A number of years in the past I accepted a job that I might by no means have taken if I had recognized I might be spending all day, every single day, in a tiny, inside, windowless workplace lit with solely dim desk lamps with historic repurposed writing desks as an alternative of precise laptop desks. That job left me with a herniated disc in my neck from the horrible ergonomics and brought on some psychological well being points from working for six months in an workplace the place I actually by no means noticed pure mild earlier than I give up.
My newish job can be in an inside workplace, though fortunately with first rate lighting and precise workplace furnishings, however I do know it’s going to be tough within the winter when it’ll be darkish once I come to and from work. I can deal for now as a result of we’re hybrid, but when we return to 5 days in workplace, I’ll be depressing.
I’ve come to comprehend how a lot of a distinction a well-planned workplace could make in the way you work together with individuals and the way terrible it’s to spend your workdays in a closet-like workplace, to the purpose the place it could be a fairly vital consider deciding whether or not I might take a job or not. However I can’t work out inform an employer that I’d must know what the workplace set-up is, and particularly the place I’d find yourself, earlier than I may decide to a job.
Yeah, it’s bizarre that this isn’t a typical a part of all hiring processes, as a result of there’s an enormous quantity of data you get by seeing what the work set-up is like, and it’s one thing that may have an infinite affect on what your day-to-day high quality of life can be in that job. A whole lot of managers do make a tour a typical a part of their interview course of, however lots don’t.
Should you’re interviewing in particular person, one possibility is to say on the finish of the assembly, “Would it not be attainable for me to see the house this position works from?” Say it pleasantly and matter-of-factly, such as you’re asking one thing regular and unremarkable, as a result of it is a standard and unremarkable factor to need to see.
Should you’re supplied the job with out having interviewed in particular person (however could be working of their workplace in case you settle for), it’s effective to say, “I haven’t had the possibility to see the office in particular person but and would like to get a greater really feel for it earlier than I settle for. May we arrange a brief in-person assembly this week, even when it’s simply 10 minutes for me to return by to get a fast sense of the workplace?”
In the event that they balk at that, that ought to offer you pause.
In fact, with stuff like this, you all the time must take into account that it may change after you begin working there. You could possibly begin out with a luxuriously outfitted personal workplace with furnishings of the best Corinthian leather-based, and 6 months in they might bump you right into a cubicle in basement as a result of somebody extra senior wants the house, or may change to hot-desking, or it may prove that your workspace smells like a lifeless corpse half the yr or turns into infested by ghosts … however it’s nonetheless cheap to need to get a take a look at the place they plan to place you earlier than you commit.
