5 things developers want more than a human blinder
Focus is so hot right now. But so are open-office plans. What’s the tech industry to do?
The internet is buzzing about a wearable headband-like device similar to a horse blinder that blocks around 60 percent of a person’s vision, eliminating all possible causes of distraction for the modern-day employee. It’s wireless and Bluetooth connected and more comfortable than normal headphones — so you can be confident it has more than enough utils to win over developers everywhere. Or maybe not.
Stay in touch with what your employees really want by being aware of these five things they’re definitely more interested in than a personal partition attached to their skulls.
1. Compensation and benefits
Today, theories abound about what really motivates workers. Is it meaningful work? Finely crafted missions? Good old-fashioned money? Sure, cash isn’t everything, but compensation and benefits are in the top 5 job priorities for developers in 2018, according to Stack Overflow’s annual survey. (Same for last year, too.) Conspicuously absent from the top 5 was a $260 cubicle just for the face.
2. Opportunities for professional development
Employees who don’t feel able to live their race horse dreams in the office are approximately 2 times* more likely to consider leaving. But employees who don’t believe they can achieve their career goals with a current employer are 12 times more likely to go cantering out of there forever and never turn back. Something to think about.
*No data has been collected
3. Inspiring surroundings
Nothing provides isolation from stimulating surroundings like the perception of solitary confinement wrapped around one’s head. And, scientifically speaking, that hurts innovation. All the work your facilities team put into plants, lounges and east-facing windows will be for neigh, er, naught.
4. Healthy communication
Communication is tough as it is. Nearly half of employees rate communication with management as very important to their overall satisfaction at work. That’s more important than relationships with co-workers. But with the ability to wear the embodiment of a block button IRL, developers will have neither.
5. Offices with doors
When did we lose trust in doors? Scientific American declared that open floor office plans were designed “to break down the social walls that divide people…” And yet, here we are. Building them back up again. Only now we’re building walls specifically around our eyes and ears — you know, the things we need to actually do our work. At this point, the most innovative thing you can do is take your workforce’s success by the reins and steer it toward an office plan where every horsey has their own stall when they need it.
(Editor’s note: Our office has an open floor plan. We write blog posts, not the rules.)
