Sharing hotel rooms with coworkers?

[gwynne]

And has also been said many times, the people who have no qualms about sharing a room are in the minority. A company should be concerned about the morale/comfort of the employees from a majority perspective. If the majority of employees would have a problem with it, then it would indeed affect morale and sanity.

And I would add short sighted. Compare the cost of a hotel room vs the cost to recruit and train a new employee from start to experienced team member...It makes no sense. It's 2016. People want to have some privacy, some off time from working. It's a reasonable expectation.
If one company doesn't see the value in a separate hotel room, I believe many others do. It's just being respectful and many employees would be open to opportunities with the more respectful employer.

 

[RedAngie]

Everything can't be done by video conferencing. Many times overnight travel is necessary. I can't perform an operational audit of a troubled company location in Virginia or Florida without being present and observing what's going on.

 

[wvjules]

I am a professional woman working in a professional job and I should be treated as such. I will not share a hotel room like I'm in college or away at camp. In the past few months I have had to travel to various locations for work and training. I feel that if I give up my time at home, I should be respected while on the road and get my own space in my own hotel room. If I did have to share a room, I would not go on the trip. And if my employer did start requesting that employees share rooms I'd be worried about their financial future and would start looking for another job. I really can't see that happening though. I work for an extremely large company that has over 30Billion in annual revenues so I doubt sharing rooms would ever become an issue.

 

[RedAngie]

Everything can't be done by video conferencing. Many times overnight travel is necessary. I can't perform an operational audit of a troubled company location in Virginia or Florida without being present and observing what's going on.

And I would add short sighted. Compare the cost of a hotel room vs the cost to recruit and train a new employee from start to experienced team member...It makes no sense. It's 2016. People want to have some privacy, some off time from working. It's a reasonable expectation.
If one company doesn't see the value in a separate hotel room, I believe many others do. It's just being respectful and many employees would be open to opportunities with the more respectful employer.

Exactly, it's the new norm. Sharing hotel rooms may have been considered reasonable before 2000, but today it's considered an imposition and lack of respect for employees.

 

[sam_gordon]

it's considered an imposition and lack of respect for employees.

By some. If you want to say the majority feel that way, go ahead.

I don't think anyone would deny a private room is preferred. But for some of us, a shared room is simply not a big deal. IMO, it's not a sign of disrespect, that the company is having financial difficulties, and my morale isn't going to drop because I have to share a room. But again, I only travel maybe 10 nights a year (and only 4 nights are with someone). If I had to be on the road more often, it might be a bigger issue.

 

[nkereina]

Everything can't be done by video conferencing. Many times overnight travel is necessary. I can't perform an operational audit of a troubled company location in Virginia or Florida without being present and observing what's going on.

I'm an auditor as well and travel for onsite audits. We've moved to doing a lot more remote/desktop audits of policies, procedures, and financials. We'll do an initial visit for physical security, but all compliance and information security audits are conducted remotely from our office. I'm sure what we're auditing is different so I'm not comparing, but my company opted to move in this direction for the sole purpose of cost savings. It goes without saying that a company will/should travel when it's absolutely necessary, but we really review the need for it when so much can be done through video or remotely.

 

[tvguy]

I think you missed my point. You can't say "travel isn't needed, do it all electronically" and then say "we expect people to come to us". It's not a matter of who pays. Either (some) travel is necessary or it's not.

Satellites, and Skype mean in my line of work it makes the need to travel very rare.

 

[JaxDad]

I haven't been keeping track of this thread, but has anyone brought up "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles?" They weren't co-workers, but the part where the two main characters share the hotel room is funny. John Candy basically trashes the bathroom, and leaves one washcloth for Steve Martin. Then the "Those aren't pillows" part (followed by the manly discussion about the Bears) ...

 

[JoeA]

I think that if anyone said I needed to share a room I would tell them sure, but please don't mind my 2:00 am phone calls to my distant cousin in China, and that my exercise routine is me bouncing on the bed for hours while wearing my new Euro thong and no shirt! If that doesn't scare them...!

 

[DVC-Don]

Back when I worked for State Farm we always shared a room with the same gender while on the road.

 

[tvguy]

I think that if anyone said I needed to share a room I would tell them sure, but please don't mind my 2:00 am phone calls to my distant cousin in China, and that my exercise routine is me bouncing on the bed for hours while wearing my new Euro thong and no shirt! If that doesn't scare them...!

Not sure that would change the company policy unless you were rooming with the owner.

 

[thegales]

Years ago, two companies were becoming one. One had a policy of sharing rooms, the other did not. On one of our first gatherings, people were required to share rooms, and the folks in charge made the decisions of who roomed with whom. People were coming from all over the world, so there was a likelihood that you would not know who you were rooming with. You showed up to the hotel, and the front desk gave you your key.

One of our female colleagues (from the company that did not share rooms) shared the story when she checked in. She got her key from the front desk and went to the room. Her roommate was already in the room. So when Mary went in, she introduced herself to her roommate and said she was looking forward to sharing the room with her (polite small talk). But as it turns out, the woman who was already in the room was not part of our company, just a random person.

Can you imagine being in your room, and a someone uses a key to come in to the room and introduces herself as your roommate? Once Mary realized the error, she was completely embarrassed and apologized profusely. I am hoping the hotel offered something to the woman who was originally in the room.

And this is a great reminder to always lock the inside door whenever you are in your room. You never know who might get a key and think it is their room.

 

[RedAngie]

By some. If you want to say the majority feel that way, go ahead.

I don't think anyone would deny a private room is preferred. But for some of us, a shared room is simply not a big deal. IMO, it's not a sign of disrespect, that the company is having financial difficulties, and my morale isn't going to drop because I have to share a room. But again, I only travel maybe 10 nights a year (and only 4 nights are with someone). If I had to be on the road more often, it might be a bigger issue.

Yes, I'm saying these days the majority seems to feel that way. And I recognize that sharing rooms if not a big deal for some. At my company we can get private rooms, unlike before 2000, but we can also still share if both parties are willing. Sometimes I still share a room.

I'm an auditor as well and travel for onsite audits. We've moved to doing a lot more remote/desktop audits of policies, procedures, and financials. We'll do an initial visit for physical security, but all compliance and information security audits are conducted remotely from our office. I'm sure what we're auditing is different so I'm not comparing, but my company opted to move in this direction for the sole purpose of cost savings. It goes without saying that a company will/should travel when it's absolutely necessary, but we really review the need for it when so much can be done through video or remotely.

It's the same for my company. The amount of required travel has been reduced tremendously over the past five or six years. Many functions can now be done remotely from the company headquarters, a satellite office, or even from home. I'm sure cost savings was a major factor in the change. But certain things still require a personal visit. I probably spend no more than 10 nights away per year now, instead of 30+.


Sorry for the double post above. Somehow (my fault, no doubt) my reply was both in its own post and in a response to Gwynne's post.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

And has also been said many times, the people who have no qualms about sharing a room are in the minority. A company should be concerned about the morale/comfort of the employees from a majority perspective. If the majority of employees would have a problem with it, then it would indeed affect morale and sanity.

And the first time they get a roommate from Hell, they're joining the majority

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think that if anyone said I needed to share a room I would tell them sure, but please don't mind my 2:00 am phone calls to my distant cousin in China, and that my exercise routine is me bouncing on the bed for hours while wearing my new Euro thong and no shirt! If that doesn't scare them...!

Hey Roomy!!

 

[tvguy]

Satellites, and Skype mean in my line of work it makes the need to travel very rare.

And if you watched NBC Nightly News tonight, you saw 2 Skype interviews used in their stories.

 

[JoeA]

And if you watched NBC Nightly News tonight, you saw 2 Skype interviews used in their stories.

I think we all get it - you like Skype, especially when you quote yourself about Skype!

 

[tvguy]

And I would add short sighted. Compare the cost of a hotel room vs the cost to recruit and train a new employee from start to experienced team member...It makes no sense. It's 2016. People want to have some privacy, some off time from working. It's a reasonable expectation.
If one company doesn't see the value in a separate hotel room, I believe many others do. It's just being respectful and many employees would be open to opportunities with the more respectful employer.

I don't disagree, especially about it being short sighted. However, the reality is, many corporations feel the savings they get from higher employee turnover is greater than what they would gain by retaining employees. An employee with less experience earns less, gets less vacation, and while they may produce less, many corporations feel what they produce is "good enough"

 

[Disney Doll]

There are co-workers I could share a room with.

There are co-workers I wouldn't dream of sharing a room with.

In general, I prefer my own room.