Fast Company-Carpet People and Tile People

The "Tile People" Versus the "Carpet People"
By Roberta Matuson

A while back I encountered an interesting phenomenon, while conducting employee focus group meetings. Employees kept talking about “the carpet people” and the “tile people.” At first I thought these terms were industry specific. However, after hearing several sarcastic comments, it became clear to me these terms were being used to differentiate between professional employees, who sat in nicely carpeted offices and cubicles, and manufacturing personnel, who had tile beneath them.

Confused, I probed further. It was then that one of the “tile people” informed me that there was a distinct line (a door) where the tile ended and the carpeting began. In management’s defense, the work space set up for those “tile people” assembling the product seemed in line with other light manufacturing environments that I’ve seen. It seems the real issue wasn’t the carpet or the tile. It was the door that had been put up between the two workspaces to insulate both areas from hall conversations.

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Read the Entire Article at: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/roberta-matuson/management-escalator/tile-people-versus-carpet-people