Dealing with office politics can be a tricky situation. When dealing with office politics, you are people co-exist in an office relating to that organization. A supervisor at a company with a temporary workforce of 70% has a serious issue to content with. She was moved from an office to a 1/2 cube when she was on maternity leave. She was told months ago she was next to have an office when 1 opens up. Well, 2 are open and mgmt plans to move temporary workers into them. She feels upset becuase she is a permanent, higher level employee who has been with the company over seven years. Her cube is not suffient for storage, as she also has the office purchasing agent, manager of security, medical and safety.
First of all, it sounds as if management at this company is involved in playing favorites. From a practical standpoint, why would you give an office to someone who is classified as a temporary worker? I personally do not know of too many temporary workers that were given a private office. In companies that I have been in, a few are given a cubicle, while most are not given any permanent desk. In other words, they would get whatever desk is available at that given time.
However, for this case, I would NOT approach management from the perspective that you “deserve” an office due to your longetivity (i.e. “permanent”)status. Management will then see you as a whiner. Think in terms of making a business case for the kind of work space you need. Talk about the kind of information you must store in your work area, in terms of both volume and sensitivity and confidentiality. Also talk about what you do that may require privacy – are you helping staff with health claims or employee relations issues? If that doesn’t work, begin a search for a new job.
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Nick Roy is the CEO and Creative Director for Galt Mile Media, a division of Galt Mile Media Group, Inc. Galt Mile Media is a full service marketing agency that specializes in website design for small businesses on a small budget.
Great post! Interesting issue, too. This may not be as much of an office politics issue as it would appear on face value. Are we assuming they are only moving one temp worker into each office? I’ve worked for clients where enclosed offices become “bull pens” for 2, 3, or more temporary workers. If this is simply a space issue, she may just have to deal with it for a while. However, if she is indeed being overlooked, then your advice is spot on. She needs to create a business case for why she deserves the enclosed office, rather than the temp workers.
Also, are there other cues which would indicate that she has fallen from favor?