I know that there are privileges to being an executive. I expect that the execs will have real offices (with walls), better furniture, and maybe even some gold monkeys with ruby eyes embossed with the company logo. And that’s fine. That doesn’t bother me at all. People who make it to the upper echelons have either worked hard or made the right contacts and I think that they should try to reap some benefit for that.

But, I think that when “executive only” areas are created in a public spaces it sort of makes an explicit statement that non-execs are a lower class of people that need to be separated from the people that they work for. It sort of makes the people who are busting their asses in those tiny, little cubes feel like the executives must have requested that they be separated. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn’t.

But, that’s not the culture that I’ve been working in for the last 10 years. Sure, execs got better perks than the rabble, but like I said, that never bothered me. I say put whatever cool stuff you can get in your office. I think workers implicitly expect that you will, and generally don’t care. It’s an understood privilege of rank. Although I have met some execs who can’t be bothered with me, the general rule of thumb is that the upper echelons at my company make themselves appear to be very accessible despite their privilege not to be. If I’ve learned one thing in the corporate world, it’s that perception is king. If a staff thinks their bosses are geniuses, they are. If they perceive them to be approachable, they are.

Accessibility is key. It’s very easy for a staffer to bitch about cigar smoking execs in some private executive lounge making policy decisions that have ruined their day, than for them to bitch about that exec that has been accessible and normally eats lunch 2 tables away.

Good leaders will always give the perception of accessibility, even if they are not. And “executive only” areas, while justifiable, may not be advisable on this point alone.

Then again, what do I know? I’m a veteran peon with an authority problem.

Posted in Work