When you’re attempting to launch an IPO that could value your company at more than $100 billion it’s important that you have all your finances in order and that includes even the smallest of items such as keyboards and mouse at tech firms, that’s why Facebook executives have begun employing computer accessory stocked vending machines to track inventory.
At one point executives at the company’s headquarters used a sign out sheet which allowed employees to sign out any computer accessories such as a mouse or keyboard that they required, however an insider says only about 5% of the company’s employees used the sheets and it was creating an accounting nightmare.
It wasn’t until an employee was walking through an airport and saw an Apple iPod vending machine that they came up with the idea to track components digitally with the machines. Employees must now swipe their name badges at machines located throughout the office in order to receive the computer components they need.
Employees are still not charged for accepting components from the machine, however executives now know if someone is taking a new mouse or keyboard every single day and they can better equip their accounting and inventory people with the tools they need to keep employee acquisition of digital items in check.
Here’s a look at the new machines:
It appears that every single day we receive another hint that Facebook is nearing their initial public offering and if tracking mice and keyboards for accounting purposes isn’t another sign of their nearing IPO then I don’t know what is.
Do you think tracking employees through the use of vending machines is a smart way to do business or an unnecessary step in the inventory tracking process? After all this is a company that has invested in bean bag chairs and executive chefs for their corporate headquarters with plenty of skateboarding room for their programmers.
Who am I kidding, if I was working at Facebook and could take what I needed with the simple swipe of an employee ID badge I would be working from 10 computers while skateboarding to my executive chef prepared lunch.
