Office Spaces

The world is filled with office buildings and inside them are office workers. Sitting in their cubicles or open landscapes doing "office work". I can't say I'm that experienced but I've tried out or had a look at a couple of corporate cultures spanning a few industries and continents.

Having this experience in my bag I thought I had a decent guestimation of the corporate culture of Indonesian banks. I'm currently sitting in the office of the Electronic Banking Group of one of the major banks of Indonesia. Currently I am trying to figure out stuff about adoption and diffusion of mobile banking but that's not what peeks my interest enough to write down in these notes.

Corporate culture and the banking office, that's what strikes me. When I first arrived here and went to the main office of one of the largest banks here I was stricken by the sheer size of the buildings, the immense waiting rooms and the mid last century architectural atempt of imposing awe in visitors. Together with the overly focused mindset of degrees or titles (whether authentic or bought) I was sure it would be a stale and and boring office environment. Entering the electronic banking group I saw a gray and glass landscape with spots of shiny blue. Designed cold and clean. Could have been in a office design magazine actually. Design wise it lacks the green areas for increased productivity but style wise it's coherent and clean.

A little more "with the times" than by guess but still pretty much in line with my expectations.

Then came the surprises. People here are warm and even though the work hard there is a lot more fun here than I've seen in plenty of office spaces. People joke around and laugh loudly together and after closer examination I've fond table soccer and a table tennis table that they pull out on breaks and after hours to throw down. In two of the three most different work places I've been to the sense of community here seems way stronger despite my preconceptions.

The other three where a game development studio, a motion capture development company and a dive center. In the two other high en computerized industries I can honestly say the offices where much more friendly and fun looking but there was way less time for fun and friendliness. Strange no?