Unusual facilities for employees

there was a manager at my old workplace we used to use as a punchbag but that's probably not quite the same thing

I'm more intrigued by the fact that your friend works in a corset factory

Sadly, the corset factory is no more. (Have a look at the history page linked above.) My friend went there to do Ceroc in the ballroom. She said she realised how lovely the place was when she was tipped backwards during a jive and notice the dome!

I am interested in the lengths that companies (used to?) go to in order to enhance staff morale. Chewshabadoo's example made me laugh. On site - Drumkits? Rifle ranges? Basketball courts? Nice.

Where I work there's a kitchen and a couple of comfy chairs in the 'rest area' and that's it.

My old place had an art collection which you could go and browse to choose some decoration for your office. I never got around to doing this myself, sticking with my predecessor's rather dull choice of some botanical prints of ferns.

I think of this kind of thing as being very "90s".

-- Tracer Hand, Monday, February 18, 2008 9:10 AM (Monday, February 18, 2008 9:10 AM) Bookmark Link

You should see our trampoline room!

It makes me think as well of the facilities built for the workers at Bourneville http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/about_chocolate/history_cadbury/social_pioneers/bournville_village.htm

friend works at SMRT design and apparently they've got all kinds of neat stuff there.

when i was a writer, our office had a foosball table
when i was a ski patroller, the locker room had a pop machine that dispensed beer
friend of mine works for BBC radio in London, and they have a bar in the building. this did not seem weird to me at all.

The 4strophysics dept. at 0xf0rd also has a drumset.

I know only one (former) astrophysicist in town and the thought of him drumming is the funniest mental image I've had all year. Thanks! Does anyone use it? Are they waiting for Patrick Moore and Brian May to turn up so they can suggest a jam session?

My previous work was as an IT monkey at a university postgrad science campus with a hi-tech VR dome for some supposed 3d modelling "research" purposes, but if you knew the right people you could blag yrself a lunchtime shooting your coworkers in helmet-o-vision. I never did, though...

I've worked in a lot of tech companies and even during the boom days none of my employers had on-site niceties. (Other than free sodas/snacks but that's probably more common in general.) There were however plenty of open-bar parties and free happy hours.

In 2008, not so much.

one of my coworkers told me that at the last place he worked, they had a nap room where you could go and lay down for a little bit during your lunch break if you wanted. however, he was the only guy in the office and several of the women had babies and the nap room was converted into the breast milk pumping room

they had a nap room

Unbelievable! My colleagues and I have often thought how fantastic it would be if such a thing really existed, especially on those hungover days when your brain feels like it's made of cauliflower cheese.

gym room set up from products were were telemarketing. total rubbish, a gym room set up next to the photocopier.

my dad used to sell kenworth semi trucks and the dealership had a bar that the owner kept well stocked. according to my dad every afternoon around 2:30 everyone would quit working and start drinking. around 1982 some other dude bought the dealership and got rid of the bar. WHAT A BUZZKILL.

in my office we have a pool table, a foosball table, and a few video game machines. i do not ever use these amenities.

BEST PERK EVER: ONE OF THOSE MACHINES THAT DISPENSES GAS STATION CAPPUCCINO!

Hmm, not a real espresso machine?

i think every bbc building has to have a bar in it by law

yeah, and 2 drink minimum

we have a babyfoot table and the last place i worked had facilities for cyclists.

oh the place i work now has facilities for cyclists (this guy).

bike storage and a SHOWER, where you are allowed to keep all yr toiletries and towel (laundry goes home over the weekend, though)

^^^ so jealous, altho I'd probably be late for everything due to extended showering.

a drum set room would be the only amenity i would need. and the nap room. i've definitely fantasized about that.

i've heard there's a shower here, never seen it though. we do have plush soccer balls in the hallway.

^^^ so jealous, altho I'd probably be late for everything due to extended showering.

-- Laurel, Monday, February 18, 2008 7:23 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i was wondering about that, but think of it this way: there's free (and v v good) coffee there, too. If you just woke up at your usual time and rolled straight into your cycling clothes (which is what i used to do at my old, old job), you can be out the door in under 5 minutes. arrive at work, shower, change, and do your puttering coffee routine in the office kitchen. you'll just be waking up, but you'll look like a go-getter.

we have a babyfoot table

The only game we have to amuse ourselves here in our company is 'teabag darts' - throwing your teabag into your cup from the other side of the kitchen while the kettle boils. Not exactly a facility laid on by the company but it keeps us going when things get particularly boring in the world of translation.

they had a nap room

When I worked at Dell in tech support we had a nap room... a couple of recliners, sofas and the overhead fluorescents were turned off, only a couple of table lamps. It was mostly notable because it was an actual room, not just a cubicle with high partitions and a door like 99% of the "rooms" at Dell.

My last place of work had table football & pool, which wasn't particularly unusual I guess, but it was good for slacking off mid-afternoon. Current place has nothing but a small TV room that no-one ever uses AFAIK. I guess this company makes up for lack of amenities with heavy drinking culture, we're surrounded by bars (well this is Soho). Although mass lunchtime sessions are almost a thing of the past now, they're kinda frowned upon these days (company was bought out).

We have showers and lockers for Cyclists.

AND A ROLLERCOASTER!!!

Now that's just too much.

There's a shower room in the office I work in too. We also have a prayer room. Which given we're a Government Department would, I suspect, make Daily Mail readers absolutely livid.

Are there prayer rugs along with rosary beads and yarmulkes available?

there was a brothel in the reel room of the press hall in our old building

gbx you are totally right and awesome. Altho I wd have to transport all make-up and personal care items too. Or else buy duplicates. But that could be arranged.

So in conclusion: still jealous.

We've got showers in our office, but that's just because the bosses appear never to go home. I'm not convinced some of them even *have* homes, since one guy swanned off to the other end of the country today on business for a few weeks at less than a day's notice.

I've worked at the Spirella Building, but I remember no ballroom. There are a number of large function halls though.

in antarctica they had all kinds of crazy shit set up--bars, music rooms, a coffee house--but that was more about us being stuck there than the jobs.

we have pilates classes at my work now. you still get paid but it costs $50 so it doesn't exactly even out.

http://www.nsa.gov/about/about00017.cfm

also they have a "meditation (read: nap) room," on-site daycare for a lucky few, and a breast pumping room, but I strongly doubt table tennis sets or drum kits were around anywhere. then again...

i suspect tomboto, el would grumble about the perks at ooglegay

and yeah FBI hq of course has a full gym and firing range, plus the 8th floor canteen and gift shop + outdoor smoking patio, where you could stare at tourists from on high while enjoying your cancer sticks in the sunshine

jergins you lived in antarctica???? did you "over-winter?"

i just read some website about living in antarctica. it was pretty funny! sounds like there was a lot of shenanigans down there. most of the stories sounded like college and/or being a ski bum

just one summer. yeah, lots of shenanigans, but also 54 hour work weeks. people drank a LOT. and crossdressed a lot. that was a work perk: anything anyone brought down there got left there, so we had a fine choice of wigs and halloween costumes.

I would like to hear about unusual faculties for employees, like x-ray vision or spider sense. Only as it applies to their jobs, tho.

Tills that print stuff like this:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44437000/jpg/_44437628_ruderbill_two203.jpg

Least it was free.

Grozart, here's a link to the ballroom at spirella: http://www.spirella.com/ballroom.htm

Looks nice, eh? More to the point, I love the idea that somehow the original boss felt that a ballroom would engender a positive atmosphere among staff.

Are there prayer rugs along with rosary beads and yarmulkes available?

-- Bonita Applebum, Tuesday, 19 February 2008 16:16 (Yesterday) Link

As I don't do the prayer thing, I've never been in the prayer room. Presumably, those items of prayer equipment you'd bring along for yourself.

Best on site facilities?

Free restaurant, and a dentist that was run at cost prices.

Blimey, Mark, where was that?