Moving on… up?

I have to move to a new office tomorrow. I am not very excited about it.

The problem is that we are currently experiencing a shortage of space in my division. We are scheduled to move to new digs next spring/summer (we’re still not completely sure where that will be), but for right now, we’re stuck where we are. Right now, there are just enough offices to fit everyone. Sounds OK, right?

Well, it was OK. Until we hired an additional person.

My division is pretty big. My department? Small. We only have three people (including myself). Soon to be four people.

Back when we offered the new person her position, we knew we would have to cross the “where are we going to put her?” stage eventually. When I returned from the honeymoon, we sat down as a department and discussed the available options for offices for the new person. The thing that sucks is that none of them are within our department’s office space. She basically would have an office in a different department in our division… not close to us at all. Way down the hall on the other side of the building, or upstairs on a different floor.

At the time, we agreed on an office space for her, and that was that.

Until earlier this week.

One of the vice presidents, the one who is the head of our division, told my boss that he felt very strongly that I should move, and that the new person should take my office. Why? Well, because the new person is going to have a lot to learn. The person who is going to be her direct supervisor? Right now, her office is directly across from mine. My office would be the perfect space for the new person, because she’ll be close to her supervisor and colleague who she will work with most often. She is going to have a lot of questions, a lot of meetings, etc. and the vice president felt like having her close to her supervisor would help their productivity.

The fact of the matter is… he’s probably right. I’d be lying if I said that the idea of ME moving hadn’t crossed my mind. It had. But I didn’t have any desire to give up my office space and move out of my department. However, once the vice president suggested it, I couldn’t really say no. I’m being a pretty good sport about it, I think. But I have to be honest… it is a little bit depressing.

I know that the reason I’m being bumped out of my office is because I have been with the company for two years. I know what I’m doing, and don’t really need to be supervised. So it’s actually just a vote of confidence in me.

It doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to be so out of the loop with all of my coworkers now. Just on a comraderie level. Where I am now, my coworkers walk by my office all the time just because I’m kind of in the center of everything. They stop in and chat, about work, about politics, about life. It’s nice. Where I’m going? I won’t have any unscheduled visitors, I can tell you that. It’s much more secluded.

The offices themselves are pretty similar, so it’s not really a step up or step down. I still won’t have a window. :( But I WILL be able to SEE a window from my desk (when the door is open), so that is kind of nice. (Just trying to look at the positive.)

It’s just all about location, location, location.

Big bummer.

So off I go to work tomorrow to pack up my office and move upstairs. The new person starts Monday. Fun times.