Please find here advice on how the UK electronics industry can easily improve profitability....by adopting a "visible workplace" ethos, where engineers can be seen at all times. This stops non-work-related activity and encourages progress. Other countries already operate like this, and reap the benefits. This is why I direct it at UK, because other countries are already doing this.
I am writing this from my experience of having worked in over 27 different electronics engineering companies/departments in UK.
The idea involves electronics engineering companies/departments, simply adopting a “visible workplace” policy, -a working environment where engineers are visible at all times to their managers, and indeed to preferably most of the company’s other employees.
This creates a more hard-working environment, where engineers can develop better their skills. Also, such an environment makes it more difficult for engineers to waste time in less constructive activities such as messing about, arguing continuously with each other, forming “benefit cliques” (or gangs) so as to put pressure on engineers outside the “clique”, or even sabotaging one another’s work.
I have found that the best electronics companies have such a “visible workplace”. The Dyson company is a good example. The main hall at Dyson is totally open, everybody can be seen and heard at all times, by a number of other people. There are also cameras which is a great idea if not essential. (I believe microphones are also a great idea) At Dyson, there is little scope for engineers to engage in ‘non-engineering activities’ such as ganging up on a bright new engineer who has recently arrived at the company, etc etc. Even the mezzanine lab at Dyson is very open. Indeed, whilst working at Dyson, a young engineer who did not feel that he was being given enough suitable work came up to the mezz lab and continuously moaned at me about how he wanted me to teach him about a certain aspect of electronics. I didn’t have the time to do this. What impressed me was the speed with which a manager came up to the mezzanine lab and took charge of this lad, taking him away and finding something for him to do. This without me saying anything.
The “open” workplace in Dyson helps this to happen.
Unfortunately, I have often seen how engineers, instead of striving to better themselves technically, strive instead to simply try & make some of their other engineering colleagues look worse. –Continuously distracting engineers who are busy working, stealing or hiding their equipment, spreading stories about them, sabotaging their work, putting virus’s on their PC when they are not looking, etc etc. The “visible workplace” makes it so much harder for such less edifying activity to take place.
Sadly, there are few other UK engineering companies with the “open workplace” that Dyson has. Most of the company’s have a multitude of closed rooms, in which engineers can get up to all kinds of shenanigans behind the bosses back…
Example 1:
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In one UK based electronics company, I worked in a “closed lab” with three electronics engineers and one assembly girl. One of the engineers continually distracted the other two younger engineers, engaging them daily in hours & hours of non-work-related chat about just about anything. Very often, he would get them to join him in foul jokes directed at the assembly girl. The two younger engineers were of a disposition to 'get-on-with-their-work', however, the older engineer continuously distracted them, making them feel ‘anitsocial’ or ‘geekish’ if they did not join him in messing about instead of working. The manager of that site new that the work was going too slowly, however, that manager was seated in an office in a building across the road, and he simply could not see or hear what was going on in the lab…..and indeed, no other staff could see inside there either. Every month or so, the manager would insist that these engineers, due to their slow progress, should come and work a whole weekend, full-time, unpayed, to try and catch-up….the engineers would agree to this, but come the Monday, the larking about would just start all over again.
(I was in this lab as a contractor, I reported the foul language directed at the girl to her friend in the upstairs offices, but this girl told me not to report it further, as the girl might then be taken off her soldering exams, which would be useful to her in her imminent job application to a different company.)
One interesting point about this company, was that the older engineer discussed above was quite close to the Chief Design Engineer. The Chief Design Engineer gave me the impression of not wanting the body of engineers to become too technically adept, as indeed, perhaps this would simply act as a ‘threat’ to his technical superiority within the company. On one occasion, a bright new engineer had joined the company, and I overheard the Chief Design Engineer telling the older engineer “if he gets too keen, punch him one!”.
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There are multiple examples like the above, I wont bore yourself with them. These things happen far, far less in “open type” workplaces, such as Dyson.
Altogether, only five of the 27 UK workplaces that I have attended benefit at all from the “open workplace” principle.
Tridonic benefits from virtually all internal walls being see-through, thus managers always have good visibility over staff, and multiple different staff members can see each other. –Engineers can’t so easily get up to shenanigans. The engineering office and lab is actually ‘glass-walled’ to the entire production unit. Almost total visibility.
At a certain amplifier company, the entire staffing of the company, including the owners/directors were seated in a large, open room. It was simply not possible for anybody to loaf about or lark about without being in the sight of others who may well object to it/report it. There was a meeting room, but it had a huge glass window into the main room, so when the bosses were in the meeting room, they still had total visibility over all staff.
I have often noticed electronics companies where a number of engineering graduates are simply not given work, or are just given “token” jobs which are monitored loosely , if at all. Where this happens in non “open-workplace” type places, it often just descends into a shambles, with these engineers constantly chattering all day, -typically, at least one engineer will try to distract & stop his/her fellow junior colleagues from working & learning, -not wanting to be ‘left-behind’.
I have been to companies where they are paying hugely for consultancies to come in and present workplace efficiency ideologies such as the “Agile” working principle. The problem has a far simpler solution than that…..as discussed here, the “open workplace” principle. Get people working and stop the shenanigans/time-wasting.
I am writing this from my experience of having worked in over 27 different electronics engineering companies/departments in UK.
The idea involves electronics engineering companies/departments, simply adopting a “visible workplace” policy, -a working environment where engineers are visible at all times to their managers, and indeed to preferably most of the company’s other employees.
This creates a more hard-working environment, where engineers can develop better their skills. Also, such an environment makes it more difficult for engineers to waste time in less constructive activities such as messing about, arguing continuously with each other, forming “benefit cliques” (or gangs) so as to put pressure on engineers outside the “clique”, or even sabotaging one another’s work.
I have found that the best electronics companies have such a “visible workplace”. The Dyson company is a good example. The main hall at Dyson is totally open, everybody can be seen and heard at all times, by a number of other people. There are also cameras which is a great idea if not essential. (I believe microphones are also a great idea) At Dyson, there is little scope for engineers to engage in ‘non-engineering activities’ such as ganging up on a bright new engineer who has recently arrived at the company, etc etc. Even the mezzanine lab at Dyson is very open. Indeed, whilst working at Dyson, a young engineer who did not feel that he was being given enough suitable work came up to the mezz lab and continuously moaned at me about how he wanted me to teach him about a certain aspect of electronics. I didn’t have the time to do this. What impressed me was the speed with which a manager came up to the mezzanine lab and took charge of this lad, taking him away and finding something for him to do. This without me saying anything.
The “open” workplace in Dyson helps this to happen.
Unfortunately, I have often seen how engineers, instead of striving to better themselves technically, strive instead to simply try & make some of their other engineering colleagues look worse. –Continuously distracting engineers who are busy working, stealing or hiding their equipment, spreading stories about them, sabotaging their work, putting virus’s on their PC when they are not looking, etc etc. The “visible workplace” makes it so much harder for such less edifying activity to take place.
Sadly, there are few other UK engineering companies with the “open workplace” that Dyson has. Most of the company’s have a multitude of closed rooms, in which engineers can get up to all kinds of shenanigans behind the bosses back…
Example 1:
*****************************
In one UK based electronics company, I worked in a “closed lab” with three electronics engineers and one assembly girl. One of the engineers continually distracted the other two younger engineers, engaging them daily in hours & hours of non-work-related chat about just about anything. Very often, he would get them to join him in foul jokes directed at the assembly girl. The two younger engineers were of a disposition to 'get-on-with-their-work', however, the older engineer continuously distracted them, making them feel ‘anitsocial’ or ‘geekish’ if they did not join him in messing about instead of working. The manager of that site new that the work was going too slowly, however, that manager was seated in an office in a building across the road, and he simply could not see or hear what was going on in the lab…..and indeed, no other staff could see inside there either. Every month or so, the manager would insist that these engineers, due to their slow progress, should come and work a whole weekend, full-time, unpayed, to try and catch-up….the engineers would agree to this, but come the Monday, the larking about would just start all over again.
(I was in this lab as a contractor, I reported the foul language directed at the girl to her friend in the upstairs offices, but this girl told me not to report it further, as the girl might then be taken off her soldering exams, which would be useful to her in her imminent job application to a different company.)
One interesting point about this company, was that the older engineer discussed above was quite close to the Chief Design Engineer. The Chief Design Engineer gave me the impression of not wanting the body of engineers to become too technically adept, as indeed, perhaps this would simply act as a ‘threat’ to his technical superiority within the company. On one occasion, a bright new engineer had joined the company, and I overheard the Chief Design Engineer telling the older engineer “if he gets too keen, punch him one!”.
*****************************
There are multiple examples like the above, I wont bore yourself with them. These things happen far, far less in “open type” workplaces, such as Dyson.
Altogether, only five of the 27 UK workplaces that I have attended benefit at all from the “open workplace” principle.
Tridonic benefits from virtually all internal walls being see-through, thus managers always have good visibility over staff, and multiple different staff members can see each other. –Engineers can’t so easily get up to shenanigans. The engineering office and lab is actually ‘glass-walled’ to the entire production unit. Almost total visibility.
At a certain amplifier company, the entire staffing of the company, including the owners/directors were seated in a large, open room. It was simply not possible for anybody to loaf about or lark about without being in the sight of others who may well object to it/report it. There was a meeting room, but it had a huge glass window into the main room, so when the bosses were in the meeting room, they still had total visibility over all staff.
I have often noticed electronics companies where a number of engineering graduates are simply not given work, or are just given “token” jobs which are monitored loosely , if at all. Where this happens in non “open-workplace” type places, it often just descends into a shambles, with these engineers constantly chattering all day, -typically, at least one engineer will try to distract & stop his/her fellow junior colleagues from working & learning, -not wanting to be ‘left-behind’.
I have been to companies where they are paying hugely for consultancies to come in and present workplace efficiency ideologies such as the “Agile” working principle. The problem has a far simpler solution than that…..as discussed here, the “open workplace” principle. Get people working and stop the shenanigans/time-wasting.