PSUhorty

About to share a room for the first time, if I recall correctly. But, in this case, I can overlook it. Traveling for biz, I always have my own room, and my employer (the chairman) doesn’t demand that I share. He ‘get’s it’, as do most.

However, Thursday, I fly down to Phuket with our accountant and Chairman to participate in a regatta. There for over a week and he asked me if it would be okay if I shared a room with our accountant who will be sailing with us. Bloody hell, he’s flying us down there in biz class, paying for everything, we’re screwing off from work for over a week… I ain’t gonna complain. I like the accountant anyways. We get along great.

For the record, he's sharing a room also.

CopperSteve

+1

I know never is an awfully long time, but put my name under the column headed by: "Never. Not once. Not in a million years."

AAaLot

I was owner of such a company...as an owner I shared rooms and my employees shared such rooms.

Saving money was a a very minor advantage.

There is a major advantage is feeling of connectedness and employees actually LIKING their work. Even though perhaps uncomfortable the first night, I know that many many years later after I have sold the company employees at all levels have said this was actually a good idea.

Last week a was at a seminar for for wealthy people...the seminar leaders decided we should share (it was our dime...we could chose whatever we wanted). Again, after the initial shock, I can say that at the end of the week people really enjoyed it.

The reality of snoring, seeing people in their underwear, etc. is life...life is good.

Accordingly, if a company does not let this 'life' in other aspects (i.e. the company is just trying to save money), they I can others point that multiple negatives do not make a positive.

IMOA

Forcing me to share a room would make me dislike my work very quickly. I get along very well with the people I work with, spend a lot of time outside of work with them and count a number of them as some of my closest friends. However at the end of the day we either go back to our own homes or our own rooms. It had never even crossed my mind that there were employers out there with such little regard for their employees that they would force them to share a room until I'd read this thread.

meester69

So is death, hunger, disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and plenty of other unpleasant things. You can't sell sharing a room with a smelly noisy stranger as a positive on the basis that it is life.

adelauro

Sorry, but I get all the "connectedness" I want during working hours. I don't need my employer dictating to me whom I should be connecting with during my non-working hours.

MarqFlyer

Had to laugh when I read this.

Yes I want a job, but I've also had the foresight to make myself sufficiently employable to say "bye-bye" to any employer that tried to pull this on me.

lg10

Whoa, major disconnect here. As the boss and then the "wealthy person,"
you are not really in line with the thoughts of the rank and file. Granted,
I am a teacher and have gone to only a few conferences and such in my
professional life, but here are my thoughts:

1. It is so hard to be "on" all the time while traveling with colleagues who are
meant to see you at your best and most competent. Surely a person
deserves a chance to take a deep breath and just not *care* for a few
hours, without being judged.

2. If you are in a room with a colleague, this is not your family, or your
friend - yes, you will be judged and perhaps snickered at or remembered
in a non-fond manner for normal human quirks. That's not a fair thing
to do in a professional context.

3. If you are with your boss, there is this huge power dynamic! What if you
want to use the shower first or something, or she leaves hair all over,
or whatever. How awkward could it be??

4. What if you want to do private things in your room without a roommate
as an adult, for crying out loud. Suppose you want to: change a tampon,
defecate, eat smelly food, walk around in your underwear, watch stupid
television, engage in sexual pursuits alone or with a partner, I don't know.
Any of this should be legitimate on your own time.

5. The room-sharing presupposes that the employee is owned by the
company 24/7 which is a grossly unfair assumption.

6. What if you want to bring along your baby/nanny, or your spouse comes
to visit with you for a couple evenings of your trip, or anything else? You
deserve some space that is just yours, that you can allocate in this way.
It is enough that a company is dragging you away from your own home;
they don't have to treat you badly on top of that.

I'm aware that with only limited professional travel, I may not have
understood the situation, but this is how I would feel if I were asked to
travel for my company.

--LG

USPhilly

Interesting dynamic. Personally, I have never been forced to share a hotel room with anyone nor would I want to. However, my mother is a teach as well. There is a reading conference every year that she really enjoys attending and makes a case to the school each year to pay for the trip. The school has thus far agreed but will only pay for 1 hotel room for two people. This isn't so much a business trip since she's the one who has to convince them to pay for it/send a few teachers and is far from mandatory.

Where do you think this falls? My personal opinion is that while it would be nice for them to pay for multiple rooms, it's her choice to go or not go so one room is fine. BTW, my choice would be to not go rather than share a room, but that's just me.

adelauro

Nope, you have got it pretty much spot on. Nice summary of how it feels to be on the road with colleagues.

BearX220

Here we have the concept of company-as-alternate-family, with equal levels of forced intimacy. Which I think is thoroughly wrongheaded. My work colleagues are not family, and my work persona is not my authentic persona. I do not want my work colleagues to know what I wear to bed, or hear what I might say in my sleep, or see what toiletries I use.

Exactly. You cannot be "on" 24/7, especially when you're unconscious.

ESPECIALROB

As the OP of this thread, I'm glad to see it resurface! Since starting this thread in early 2007, the consensus has overwhelmingly been against forced room sharing.

Nonetheless, I was at a conference this summer, and saw with my own eyes the "rooming list" of its organizer's own staff in attendance. Thus, this concept is still alive and well with some employers in 2009. How sad.

djk7

I could see that backfiring in a seriously unpleasant way.

CMK10

Sadly it happens occasionally with my company.

We usually go out to our HQ north of Los Angeles twice a year of corporate meetings. There's a local hotel in Thousand Oaks we contract with and we get assigned roomates. Luckily (or unluckily?) my division is all men.

One of my roomates claimed I talked too much

thegeneral

Just keep in mind that the prevailing opinion of business leaders around the globe disagrees with your approach. Traveling for business is not a new phenomenon and people having their own living space is the preferred means of doing business. I somehow doubt that your employees had the same opinion as you do. They might say they agree to your face, but I would not share a room with a co-worker. If a meeting isn't important enough for me to live and sleep comfortably, then the meeting isn't important enough to have in person in the first place.