A reader writes:
Is there a method to ask to see your future workspace before you settle for a job supply or sooner or later within the interview course of, with out it being unusual?
Several years in the past I accepted a job that I’d by no means have taken if I had recognized I’d be spending all day, daily, in a tiny, inside, windowless workplace lit with solely dim desk lamps with historical repurposed writing desks as a substitute of precise pc desks. That job left me with a herniated disc in my neck from the horrible ergonomics and precipitated some psychological well being points from working for six months in an workplace the place I actually by no means noticed pure gentle before I give up.
My newish job can also be in an inside workplace, though fortunately with respectable lighting and precise workplace furnishings, however I do know it’s going to be tough within the winter when it’ll be darkish after 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 notice how a lot of a distinction a well-planned workplace can make in how 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 will be a fairly vital think about deciding whether or not I’d take a job or not. But I can’t work out how to inform an employer that I’d want to know what the workplace set-up is, and particularly the place I’d find yourself, before I might commit to a job.
Yeah, it’s bizarre that this isn’t a commonplace a part of all hiring processes, as a result of there’s a big quantity of data you get by seeing what the work set-up is like, and it’s one thing that can have an infinite impression on what your day-to-day high quality of life will probably be in that job. Numerous managers do make a tour a commonplace a part of their interview course of, however a lot don’t.
If you’re interviewing in particular person, one choice is to say on the finish of the assembly, “Would it be possible for me to see the space this role works from?” Say it pleasantly and matter-of-factly, like you’re asking one thing regular and unremarkable, as a result of it is a regular and unremarkable factor to need to see.
If you’re supplied the job with out having interviewed in particular person (however could be working of their workplace if you settle for), it’s superb to say, “I haven’t had the chance to see the workplace in person yet and would love to get a better feel for it before I accept. Could we set up a short in-person meeting this week, even if it’s just 10 minutes for me to come by to get a quick sense of the office?”
If they balk at that, that ought to give you pause.
Of course, with stuff like this, you all the time want to understand that it might change after you begin working there. You might begin out with a luxuriously outfitted non-public workplace with furnishings of the best Corinthian leather-based, and 6 months in they might bump you into a cubicle in basement as a result of somebody extra senior wants the area, or might change to hot-desking, or it might end up that your workspace smells like a lifeless corpse half the yr or turns into infested by ghosts … however it’s nonetheless affordable to need to get a have a look at the place they plan to put you before you commit.
