Canon Work Conditions Suck, Says Nikon Dude
June 1, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Cameras, Ramblings of a Gadget Geek
Danny Choo decided to report on the alleged work conditions in a Canon Electronics, highlighting how people are required to stand and move fast in at least one hallway:
Courtesy Danny Choo
He cites current Canon president Hisashi Sakamaki:
According to his book, employees can concentrate on the meeting at hand without chairs and they have been able to half the number of meetings each year.
He also says that by standing at work, the employees develop a closer relationship with each other and that problems are solved much more quicker. The company also saves on the cost of buying chairs as you can see in the photo.
Also in the photo you can see a blue sign on the floor. When Nikkei went to interview the president, while walking in the corridor a siren and flashing lights went off.
The corridor was designed to detect whether employees were walking at least 5 meters for every 3.6 seconds.
Personally, I really don’t mind working standing up—if I had a choice to work sitting down or not and my desk could adapt accordingly (the stand-up desk comes to mind). And I wouldn’t even mind having to walk a meter every 0.72 seconds, but again if I had a choice in the matter.
Both apparent Canon workplace realities are actually conducive for productivity, in my opinion. But imposing the standard on everyone, regardless of the situation or what I like to call the personal practicality of the approach, is not good.
Unfortunately, I can’t Danny Choo’s word for it. For after pointing out Canon’s workplace injustices, asking readers “Next time you take a photo on your Canon – think about the employees”, he reveals his totally drool-worthy home PC(s) setup, complete with his Nikon collection, and posts a Nikon ad featuring himself.
Courtesy Danny Choo
As commenter TheGreatest wrote:
I don’t see Nikon workers sitting down either eh?
http://www.e-fotografija.si/templates/?a=1132&z=93&page=2Also, when were those pictures taken? These are more recent shots of Canon’s assembly line:
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1305/pspro90isimg.jpgDo you see any major differences?
I understand you have an overwhelming bias seeing as you got paid for a Nikon commercial, but you can at least have some integrity.
Personally, I’m calling out Danny Choo for showing off his multi-computer workspace. At least I can still consider his cable management crappy. Heh.
To “TheGreatest” – dude – check your facts AND your photos. Most modern electronics workspaces are production lines with no seats, so, no I wouldn’t put a lot of mileage on Danny Choo’s comments either. However, your photo, especially the image shack link? Note the CAMERAS the production workers are holding. They’re Powershot Pro 90 IS models. Canon introduced them in 2001. 2001! THIS IS RECENT???? Fact check dude, fact check.