Shared Hotel Rooms for Work

[cowgirl836]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but if, God forbid, an employee assaults another when they are sharing a room, the company will be sued for this policy. Does the company have general counsel/in-house lawyers?

Well exactly and back to an example I gave, sure it's probably mostly ok if two same sex straight people share. But what if someone decides to bring someone else back to the room? What if one person is gay and ...there's so many ways this goes wrong. Construction is a pretty conservative field. If some guy finds out his roommate isn't straight or already knows that and is very uncomfortable with that, it's just a whole mess that very easily bleeds over into other aspects of the work. Do you require people to disclose sexuality so you can assign roommates appropriately?!

That's why I think if you go to HR and point out the liability facet they'll want to shut it down.

 

[isu81]

I need some advice on this…

I started at my current company in Fall 2020. Prior to COVID, they had a “shared hotel room” policy. Opposite sex are exempt, but basically the policy is “if you are traveling with someone else, you’re expected to share a room.” They just reinstated the policy this week.

The CEO’s line is all about “family culture” and “small company feel.” He did acknowledge the cost savings in his announcement, which I’m sure is the real driver.

I travel a lot for work; 1-2 nights every week. I’m probably alone 80% of the time but I will travel with someone else once every few months. I have to say, I am 100% against this policy. I like my privacy and honestly have a lot of anxiety around sharing a room with a coworker.

I should mention, this is not a startup. We have 700 employees and over $200M in revenue every year.

Anyone have some truthful and respectable ways to tell my boss I’m not on board?

Haven’t read through the whole thread, so maybe this has been posted. But I would just tell your boss you’re a chronic masturbator.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I remember now that I did have to bunk up once. It was for training.

I did not know the other person. He got there early and went out drinking. I hit the bed at my normal time but couldn't sleep at all knowing a drunk stranger was coming into the room sometime after the bars closed.

Totally wrecked my sleep and performance.

Truly truly a garbage move out of the "family"

Yeah that is effing weird. On one hand, you were probably relieved to not have to 'deal' with him for those few hours he was out. But that awful feeling in your gut that he was coming back at some point, possibly to be loud and belligerent, and you didn't know him at all, let alone him in an inebriated state of mind, would have been enough to tie my stomach in knots all night.

 

[ScottyP]

This is a valid thought. However, I take exception that it's on ME to pay for my own room. You are asking me to travel A LOT for my job. I work in BD so my job directly impacts the bottom line of the company. I get that they did this when it was 10 people in the whole company and it was a battle for every cent to make the company profitable.

We are not that company now. We are not a mom & pop startup. We've been in business 20 years and have revenues over $200M year after year. Individual rooms are part of the cost of doing business at this kind of company. If they want to cut costs, find somewhere else to do it. This is a non-starter for me.

what is sad is that some companies will nickel and dime stuff like that, but have no problem spending way more on something that was completely unnecessary.

Example in my profession: spending tens of thousands of dollars to move product earlier than needed just so a quarterly target gets exceeded while also reducing the number of pens and notepads in the office just to save a few hundred bucks.

 

[Acylum]

Honestly didn’t know this was a thing.

 

[JM4CY]

Haven’t read through the whole thread, so maybe this has been posted. But I would just tell your boss you’re a chronic masturbator.

 

[TheHelgo]

someone may have mentioned this, but I would think doing this would have a detrimental impact on company cohesion and the whole 'family' culture. I travel a decent amount, and I have great relationships with those I travel with. I would think that sharing a room and being exposed to habits, sleep styles, etc would sour that relationship. Imagine being a light sleeper and being in a room with someone who snores or insists on leaving the TV on to fall asleep. Or if someone who enjoys a clean room having to share with someone who leaves sh*t all over and makes a mess of the bathroom. People would avoid travel and thus hurt the 'family culture' and ultimately the bottom line.

 

[brianhos]

Holy **** absolutely 100% no! I cannot even fathom people thinking this is ok in the slightest bit.

 

[drmwevr08]

I've opted to do this frequently to save money but not sure about it being required. I was staying with people I would basically consider friends so it seemed normal. Had it been some person I only know on a very professional basis that might be too much. It can be a huge cost savings, but are those savings even making their way to employees?

 

[Old87]

Terrible idea. May save the company money in the short term, but will cost them long term with employee turnover. Earlier in my career I did a lot of travel installing and starting projects. We insisted on separate rooms for all travel. We worked 12 hours days, 7 days per week. Add in together time for breakfast and dinner and you can see why we needed time away from each other at night. Projects run better when the crews are happy.

 

[JP4CY]

I was at a show once and had share a to room with by boss in Chicago. He didn't tell me his wife was coming with him!! I It really wasn't that big of deal since we've all stayed in an RV at various NASCAR tracks before, so it was really wasn't a big deal. His wife isn't going to win any beauty contests or anything so it was all on the straight and narrow.

 

[ScottyP]

Terrible idea. May save the company money in the short term, but will cost them long term with employee turnover. Earlier in my career I did a lot of travel installing and starting projects. We insisted on separate rooms for all travel. We worked 12 hours days, 7 days per week. Add in together time for breakfast and dinner and you can see why we needed time away from each other at night. Projects run better when the crews are happy.

Depending on what type of work is going on, I could see an incident where two co-workers end up in an argument because they are sick of each other and don't have time away from each other.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Yeah that's a pass from me.

I've never actually heard of this. I've heard of guys in construction sharing rooms to save money, in the case where they're getting a per diem.

But this makes no sense.

 

[throwittoblythe]

Depending on what type of work is going on, I could see an incident where two co-workers end up in an argument because they are sick of each other and don't have time away from each other.

I've talked to some of our crew guys about this a few months ago. They HATE the shared rooms. Mostly because guys who work on construction crews can be gross and nasty. People that labor all day then don't shower. Guys who get up from the bed and the sheets are yellow from their filthy body.

I imagine we will lose people over this. It will be interesting to see if the company bends or really wants to cost themselves people/revenue over this.

 

[dafarmer]

Been in any videos?

 

[cmjh10]

****, I barely want to share a room with the GF. Coworkers? Hell no.

 

[Sousaclone]

Have to agree with everybody else here. That's a hard no. I'm in the same industry only on the operations side, and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing/requiring that. Besides, you're in BD. Isn't it your job just to basically spend money without regard on stuff to try and get a job?

As far as crews double bunking, I'm used to people either a) doing single rooms or b) giving them a stipend and letting them figure it out. Just to many risks and to much liability if someone does something stupid.

Even the most tight assed PM I worked for as a new hire didn't do that and this guy at one point was paying a laborer to remove the nails from used 2x4s so that we didn't have to buy new ones.

 

[cycloneML]

I need some advice on this…

I started at my current company in Fall 2020. Prior to COVID, they had a “shared hotel room” policy. Opposite sex are exempt, but basically the policy is “if you are traveling with someone else, you’re expected to share a room.” They just reinstated the policy this week.

The CEO’s line is all about “family culture” and “small company feel.” He did acknowledge the cost savings in his announcement, which I’m sure is the real driver.

I travel a lot for work; 1-2 nights every week. I’m probably alone 80% of the time but I will travel with someone else once every few months. I have to say, I am 100% against this policy. I like my privacy and honestly have a lot of anxiety around sharing a room with a coworker.

I should mention, this is not a startup. We have 700 employees and over $200M in revenue every year.

Anyone have some truthful and respectable ways to tell my boss I’m not on board?

Does she snore?

 

[Sousaclone]

 

[Cyinthenorth]

someone may have mentioned this, but I would think doing this would have a detrimental impact on company cohesion and the whole 'family' culture. I travel a decent amount, and I have great relationships with those I travel with. I would think that sharing a room and being exposed to habits, sleep styles, etc would sour that relationship. Imagine being a light sleeper and being in a room with someone who snores or insists on leaving the TV on to fall asleep. Or if someone who enjoys a clean room having to share with someone who leaves sh*t all over and makes a mess of the bathroom. People would avoid travel and thus hurt the 'family culture' and ultimately the bottom line.

I am reminded of being an 18 year old college freshman dorming it up for the first time. You show up in a strange place meeting a ton of strange people for the first time, and it's fine. But then you realize you are going to be living with some of these strange people for the foreseeable future (feels like forever at that age). I couldn't stand any roommate I ever had in a dorm setting, I wanted to be far away from them as much as possible. Fortunately it was only 2 semesters and then on to apartment living where I could at least have my own room that had a door.