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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (40732)	3/28/2001 1:30:31 PM
From: ms.smartest.person	Respond to of 41369

March 28, 2001 It's Something O'Clock at AOL UK Don't ask employees what time it is – they're undergoing a nerve-wracking exercise that's supposed to relieve stress. By Jen Muehlbauer Add "What time is it?" to the list of naughty phrases banned by AOL. At least in AOL UK's offices, where the company – stealing a page from Outward Bound – has ordered employees to give up their watches. As for workers with medication to take or kids to pick up from school, we assume they've discovered TimeandDate.com. Wired News reported on the office, where computers' time displays have been covered by tape. "AOL U.K. says the point of the experiment is to find out whether people are less stressed and get more done at work if they don't know what time it is," wrote Michelle Delio. "But some AOL U.K. employees think that the time-warp experiment is simply an ill-advised public relations campaign for AOL U.K.'s new flat-fee Internet service." The employee Delio talked to was more stressed out than ever, complaining that he was still supposed to work "at least eight hours" a day. The Register agreed that the plan was "nothing short of a gimmick" for AOL UK's unmetered Net access. An AOL spokesperson even admitted that the whole thing was the marketing department's idea. British news service Ananova, however, ate AOL's PR with a spoon. "An experiment to ban clocks from AOL's London office for a day has led to a more relaxed office atmosphere," reported Ananova's green-haired "virtual newscaster." Ananova did answer some of the logistical questions inspired by the clock-free office: "a computerised prompting service" signaled internal meetings, and a security guard announced quitting time. "The biggest concern was from someone who had a lunch meeting," said one AOL marketeer. "They phoned the person they were meeting and asked them to ring back when it was time to leave." Sounds really relaxing to us. AOL Europe Taking Its Time Wired News AOL UK Bans Time The Register Office Workers More Relaxed Without Clocks Ananova HEADLINE : It's Something O'Clock at AOL UK thestandard.com.au