Where I work window offices are given out by seniority (with rare exceptions)
I don’t have a window office. I have been there 1 year. About 10 people who have been there less than 1 year have window offices. In some cases they have been there only 4-6 months.
I would like to ask my boss for a window office when one is open. But I wonder if I should mention these people who have jumped over me with less seniority. They work for different managers in my division.
The people who jumped over me are not managers, they do not outrank me on the org chart.
I wouldn’t make it a big deal. Just in passing sometime mention to your boss “Hey, the next time a window office opens up can I take it?” They will likely give close to zero shits about it and say “Fine.”
Is it a written policy that window offices are given by seniority, or is it an unwritten rule? Either way, I think you need to speak up if you want one.
I did that once, over the objections from my boss. Then his boss walked by my office door, stopped, backed up, looked at me, looked down the hall at my boss’ office, then winked and gave me the “you’re awesome” finger guns and walked on.
Don’t mention the other coworkers unless you get push back. Even then, you may find out that there’s more to it than just “seniority.”
I say this because most people with my employer hear that offices are given out first by rank and then by seniority, but it’s actually more complicated than that.
Exceptions are given all the time. People who meet with clients need an office that’s nice for meetings. People who would normally be in a cube but need a door that closes get bumped up on the list (this includes copywriters/editors/proofreaders who need quiet time, people with direct reports who need closed door meetings, etc.). There are many other exceptions I just can’t think of right now.
Regardless, no one moves unless they say they want to. There is a kind of “Don’t ask/Don’t get it” policy. Partly because they don’t want to go through the hassle and expense of moving people around, and partly because a lot of people just don’t care that much.
I did that too, sort of, but not over my boss’s objections. And it was a cubicle, not really an office.
We were moving to a new floor, and they were going to make the biggest cubicle the printer location and put me into the smallest one. There were yellow Post-It notes saying what cubicle was for what/who. When we went down to see what the new location was like, I just moved the notes.