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JANE WARWICK: Hello, Michael!
MICHAEL WHITESMAN: Hi, Jane! Nice to talk to you.
(1) Where do you work?
WARWICK: I work for Forward, an internet company that invests in web businesses and also does search marketing. It’s a fairly small company, with 350 employees, and I supervise a team of ten finance staff.
WHITESMAN: I work for Network Rail, which runs the British rail infrastructure. It’s a big organization, with about 35,000 employees. We are the ones who get customers from A to B safely.
(2) What about you?
WHITESMAN: Well, it is quite a formal corporate environment. I work in a big open-plan office, with groups of six desks. It was obviously designed by someone who specializes in large corporate offices, because there’s the standard white everywhere and large blocks of bright colors. What about you?
WARWICK: We’re in Camden, which is very alternative, so there are lots of bars, clubs, and market stalls, and the office itself is probably the most insane place I’ve ever worked in. In fact, it has been in The Sunday Times top 100 places to work. It has a kind of Alice-in-Wonderland look. There’s a door shaped like a keyhole to get from one building to another and a red carpet in the middle. We have an open auditorium for guest speakers. There are tables for playing ping-pong, table football and pool, and a room with lots of beanbags and computer games, where people can go and just chill out. After having worked as an accountant for nine years in a corporate environment, I find it fantastic.
WHITESMAN: Wow! Our office is nothing like that! But we do have areas with comfortable chairs and that kind of thing. We can take our breaks there. And we get free coffee from the machine!
WARWICK: Well, we have a canteen, where you can get snacks, breakfast and hot and cold lunches. Croissants and muffins are freshly delivered every morning. There is also a fully stocked bar for Friday-night drinks. And it’s all for free!
WHITESMAN: OK, you win!
(3) What’s it like working there?
WARWICK: Well, I don’t stop work to go and play ping-pong! The accounts department is still rather traditional compared to the others, and we usually do the fun things after work. However, I do try and have a massage on Thursdays, that only lasts 15 minutes; so it’s easy to fit it around work. We have an office lottery for massages, which everyone joins, as there are only 60 massages offered each week. So, we sit there on Wednesday nights waiting for the email to come in, and you always know who has been lucky, because they hear a cry of “I’ve got one!”. I manage to win every three weeks, and I love it. Actually, having these opportunities can be a bit dangerous because it can make it hard to leave the office.
WHITESMAN: There’s a very different atmosphere where I work, which is a serious place. My director sits ahead of me, and everyone in the team is grouped around a senior person. People here really work hard to get ahead. So, there is quite a bit of pressure to work fairly long hours. However, we do go for drinks after work on a Friday, and the boss usually offers to buy the first round. You used to work in a corporate firm?
WARWICK: Well, I trained as an auditor in one of the country’s top 25 accountancy practices. It was a very traditional firm. After that, I worked for a firm in Soho, where our clients were like Forward, and I found I’m much more fulfilled in this kind of fun environment.
WHITESMAN: It sounds like you’re not the typical accountant. People mostly think that accountants are all the same, no matter where they work.
(4) How do you actually get any work done?
WHITESMAN: You mean geeks?
WARWICK: Well, accountants are seen as geeks, although I don’t see myself as a geek and get frustrated when people refer to me as one. In my last job at the Ministry of Justice, I worked in the policy team and the highest position I could reach was head of finance. As long as you can get jobs in this industry, regard my colleagues and me as having experience that goes far beyond working with spreadsheets!
WHITESMAN: Yes, I don’t see myself like that at all! In fact, when I am recruiting new accountants, I look for something different: someone with fun experience. I see myself as fun-loving, not a boring accountant in a suit.
WARWICK: Actually, I like wearing a suit. I think it gives you more balance.
WHITESMAN: Well, you’d look odd if you turned up to work here in a suit. In fact, people sometimes walk around the office with no shoes on! I think you can be more productive when you’re feeling comfortable. I wore a suit for nine years and now I like not having to have separate work and weekend clothes.
WHITESMAN: Yes, I agree that’s inconvenient, especially because suits are expensive. I hate having to spend hundreds of pounds on clothes I only wear to work.
WARWICK: What I also find frustrating in a traditional accounting firm are the many people needed to make decisions. Here, I meet my finance director each week. There is no hierarchy, no committee. I tell him what I want to change and he mostly says: “Let’s do it!”
WHITESMAN: Yes, the slow decision-making in traditional firms can make you feel removed from the process – although things are faster at Network Rail.
(5) What made you change?
WARWICK: Well, I trained as an auditor in one of the country’s top 25 accountancy practices. It was a very traditional firm. After that, I worked for a firm in Soho, where our clients were like Forward, and I found I’m much more fulfilled in this kind of fun environment.
(6) Would you want to change firms?
WHITESMAN: No, for me, more important than the work environment is finding the right job – one that fits best with my family and what I’m trying to do.
WARWICK: Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Michael.
WHITESMAN: You too, Jane. Good luck!