Musical Chairs

They're at it again. The Powers That Be are playing musical chairs.

The mobile work force is being mobilized - shifted from one desk to another, one building to another. Some have found themselves at "hot desks" in the middle of nowhere, with no chair - awaiting the removal of others. Some are unexpectedly told to vacate when the new person arrives, or simply moved 3 metres to the left.

It's all a bit weird to the casual observer (me). And a bit unsettling. Perhaps a reminder that "you can't get too comfy". Just as you do, just as you haul out the prestik and personalize your space, you're taking it all down, trying to fit it into a spare copy paper box, and migrating.

I guess there's reason behind this - there are a few new teams forming, a bit of reorganization as new bosses arrive and gather their troops. There's a shake-up of responsibility that means you shift locations to where everyone else is working from - or back again.

But it does make life difficult. The cool bloke who usually hauls paper for the copier and is a few steps away when things need to be discussed is now who-knows-where. Instead of turning around and asking someone a question, you get to hunt for a phone number, an email address, a skype username or navigate unknown hallways to find them.

Very unsettling yes - and from the casual observer's view (that's me again), not terribly conducive to either a feeling of job security or being able to get on with your tasks without first having to adjust to new surroundings.

But that's just the casual observer's opinion. Perhaps I'm simply too low down the food chain to see the bigger picture.