Even Real Office Workers Need a Third Place

The Wall Street Journal (via a reprint in the Career Journal specialty site) notes that many companies are trying to keep their employees in the Real Office by upgrading the in-office coffee offerings.

Good luck.

It turns out that in many cases even the lure of a freshly brewed, individualized cup of coffee isn't enough to change people's habit of running down to the coffee shop for a quick (or not so quick) cuppa joe. In fact:

"Higher-level managers such as Joe Garber also say they enjoy getting out of the building, though they may take their work along with them. Mr. Garber, the 63-year-old president of Woodrow Funding & Management Corp., a financial-services firm in New York, likes to go to a nearby coffee shop and spend 15 or 20 minutes working there instead of in the office."

Maybe my earlier concerns about languishing in the local cafe were misplaced.