yosithezet

That doesn't work in the corporate world?

tfmpa

A former employer of mine required roomsharing for the annual retreat. The only exempt employee was an openly gay man who got his own room. When I learned that I told them I was bisexual but that only got me assigned to room with my supervisor!

rbrenton88

lol! Maybe he saw some possible action?

tfmpa

she might have. Must say the guys at work were having a great time with the visual!

xinerevelle

Actually, yes, they do only pay $3 for breakfast! I used to work for a community college in Florida, and ALL state employees were allowed only $.29 per mile and got meals reimbursed at the following schedule: $3 (B), $6 (L), $12 (D). There were time frames allowed for each meal. For example, if you left before 6:00 am you could expense breakfast, but not if you left at 6:15. Likewise, if you got home after 8:00 pm you could expense dinner, but not if you got home at 7:30 pm. I left that job 2 years ago, and believe that the numbers have increased somewhat since then (thank goodness!). It was tough to eat on those numbers when in high expense cities.

As for hotel rooms... yes, we had to share. It was a local decision, not something required of all state employees. We had to get all travel approved by the VP of Admin. and his sec'y kept a big calendar of who was travelling where for the entire 400+ staff. If you were staying in the same city as someone of the same gender you were expected to share a room. One time I had 3 different roommates in 3 days!

My boss and a colleague used to travel quite a bit together (2x per month for 2-3 days at a time). My colleague was a religious fanatic and was accustomed to rising at 3:30 am to say her prayers for the day. So as not to disturb the boss, she would go into the bathroom and sit in the bathtub to do her praying! Talk about your need for space and privacy!

I don't mind sharing a rental car if we're all at the same hotel and going to dinner together anyway. The only time it backfired on me is when a colleague had already made plans to visit his brother in the city we were in and asked if he could take the car. So, I too made plans with a friend I knew there, but she had to cancel so I was stuck in a hotel without any transportation and no viable options for a non-pizza/chinese food dinner.

UAVirgin

Back when I worked for one of the Big 5 we were required to share a room at continuing education if not of sufficient rank or an instructor. My boss was always amazed at how expert I was in the various topics - seems I was an instructor every year.

The unwritten rule was that if you succeeded in getting your own room, you either had to buy rounds of drinks at the bar each night or fill your bath tub with ice and various libations. I chose to buy rounds at the bar and of course charged them back on my expense report. My status gave me a room on the club floor that required a key card to get to, and I wasn't about to the let the peons on my floor let alone in my room.

Telfes

I work for a state institution -- your tax dollars at work -- and I am summoned to out-of-town meetings of 1-2 nights 1-2 times a year and we ALWAYS have to share.

And, yes, our domestic per diem rates are pitifully small -- only slightly more than what xinerevelle cited for the school where s/he used to work. Try recruiting employees when you are "wining and dining" them with that level of funding! HA. We've been known to dig into our own pockets in those situations to do better.

As for office furniture, my current set-up was inherited from a colleague who left & didn't take the stuff with him that he bought out of his own pocket. Prior to that, I had a desk (and still have filing cabinets) from the 1960s or early 1970s. A few colleagues have desks that were literally rejects that a secretary didn't want any more -- mind you, these people way out rank the secretary, but for some reason, she gets far better furniture.

Fortunately we have not (yet) had to resort to hitchhiking and the risk management office banned the 15-passenger vans for our group trips to those lovely room-sharing meetings, so at least we get better wheels now.

So, for all of you who would NEVER share a room with a colleague, how about if you all write your state legislators so that your public servants don't get shafted in a way that would be totally unacceptable to you -- let them know that you'd be willing to pay a little more in taxes for more humane conditions. We would appreciate it! I have one colleague, a very conservative and modest fellow, who had to room with a total stranger last year and I don't think he has yet recovered from the shock of the older and very corpulent (just so you don't think it was eye candy) roommate hanging out in the room totally naked as he leisurely got ready to face the day.

My personal solution has been to beg off most of these meetings with an unavoidable conflict - either real or created. Sharing voluntarily with friends on a fun weekend away is one thing. Forced sharing with colleagues is ick.

AAaLot

I wanted to re-quote myself since there are not many employers [or people that actually came up with the policy] contributing to this thread.

It IS uncomfortable to share a room with someone you do not know. In our case, however, we had done a good hiring, thus most of the employees rapidly became even better friends by sharing a room. Even though I left two years ago, I feel great that many of the employees still consider me a friend.

Financially, it is a waste of money to spend for 4 beds when you can spend for only 2.

jimbo99

With respect, I still find this a patronising approach. Financially its only a waste of money if you don't take into account the rights of your employees not to be uncomfortable in sharing a room with someone they do not know.

Yes, you might be right - looking back on it later they might think it was not such a bad thing and even feel they built better relationships as a result. But you are not a parent or grandfather figure - I think its not for you to step into this role and get your employees to suffer something now because you think it will be a good for them in the long run. I think adult staff deserve more respect than that.

You seem to think you have hired well - but judging by the reaction of contributors to this group, in adopting such a policy you could be excluding a large number of potential employees on the basis of something that should not be a key issue in staff selection.

But if you had no problem hiring staff and making them share, then, as you say, its good for the company.

Incidentally, I was an employer too and my staff would frequently travel in 2s or 3s. They always had their own rooms - and we're also still good friends. I think treating them with this basic level of respect - though a tad expensive, paid dividends as they often performed beyond the call of duty in their labours. Alot of things are expensive about running a business.

As an employee, I might be sympathetic if the situation arose through force majeure. But I would recoil if I thought it was a penny-pinching attempt justified on the grounds of social engineering.

RichMSN

Cheap hotels, cheap flights, cheap, cheap, cheap. I read a book about how any business can put lessons learned at Walmart into practice (from a former Walmart manager) and the main lesson I learned was: Don't work for Walmart.

RichMSN

My God, what a disaster. I work for a privately held company that has no hard limits on anything. I book my own flights, my own hotels, and submit only the credit card receipts for meals. I try to keep breakfast to the cost of a Courtyard breakfast ($12-$14), lunch to a normal lunch cost out ($15 or less) and about $30 for dinner. We stay at mid-priced hotels (CY) and team up on rental cars.

With a per diem like this, I'd be looking for another line of work. I'm not eating Egg Mc Muffins and dollar menu burgers all day and I'm certainly not paying out of pocket for meals on the road (which is what would have to happen with a restrictive per diem like this).

RichMSN

I stopped sharing rooms when I was in college.

I'm almost 40, I snore, like to walk around my room naked, and I like an available bathroom on my own schedule. I frequently work or watch TV until 2-3 in the morning and I want to watch whatever show I want to watch.

I hope you mentioned your policy in the interview so people could be given a choice whether to run or not. I would've stopped the interview, thanked you, and left.

mikey110890

Not going to happen.....I would pay my own expenses before I listen to anyones snoring and other sounds.

opus17

Since 2001, I've worked for 2 companies (one a start-up, one is among the largest companies in the world) that required room sharing at certain events (major trade shows, off-site meetings). In the first case, it is caused by a lack of allocated hotel rooms in the city.

I'm normally exempt (since I'm in senior management), but people seem to tolerate it as part of the culture.

LovesTea

A couple of years ago I had to travel on business, and was forced to share a room with someone who worked for our company, but in a different state. This was my first time meeting her in person (though we had talked on the phone a few times). She was soooo annoying! I got to learn all about how her big dream in life was to become the next "American Idol"-style country singer (she was 49 years old, for pete's sake), and she kept playing me her studio recorded demos of country song covers, which were lousy. The whole trip, she wouldn't shut up about her "dream" (she worked in sales for our company). On top of that, she SNORED very loudly all freaking night, and I ended up getting three hours of sleep two nights in a row. On the third night, I bought earplugs and set my alarm. Well, the alarm woke her up instead of me, and she got this huge attitude about how dare I interrupt her beauty sleep. What a b-word!

If I EVER have to travel again for business, I will make sure I am not sharing a room!