[smartician]

Maybe I'm becoming cynical, but reading memos like this makes me resent the cubicle world of Corporate America more and more. How about Hawaiian Shirt Friday? Can you change corporate culture by removing turnstiles and parking barriers?

[mindcrime]

Can you change corporate culture by removing turnstiles and parking barriers?

Try asking yourself the opposite question... "Can you change culture by adding turnstiles and parking barriers?"

[jlarocco]

Maybe it's just me, but I would answer "no" to the question phrased either way. Honestly, neither of those seems like a very big deal. I'm actually surprised people would even bother complaining about something like that.

[mindcrime]

Interesting. I expect most people would immediately see the "adding" scenario as a sign of a worsening culture. In my mind, if a company is becoming so bureaucratic as to need to add turnstiles and parking barriers, it would be a clear step on the path to a very toxic culture. It all has a very "big brother" feel to it.

[jlarocco]

I'd agree with you if the turnstiles and parking barriers were added solely to track employee movement.

I don't know if that was the case at Yahoo, though, and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were originally meant for something more useful, like making sure there were enough parking spaces open for Yahoo employees.

[mindcrime]

and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were originally meant for something more useful,

Aaah, there you go. See, I'm way to cynical for that. Too many years of actually working for (or with) stereotypical Initech[1] style companies.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Space