I snatched the card out of his fingers and spun around, swiping it over the scanner again. I puffed out a sigh of relief as it finally turned green and the door to my cube popped open.
“Oh, look at that—got it open. Anyway! It was nice meeting you! See you around!” I squeaked, rushing into my cube and slamming the door shut on a very amused Jay, who hadn’t even had a chance to stand up yet.
I sighed and slid down the door, burying my face in my hands in an attempt to cool my burning cheeks.
Cripes.
I might have had one horrifically humiliating memory extracted today, but I’d somehow successfully added several more.
I groaned, hoping I never crossed paths with Jay Reynolds again.
Ispent the evening setting up my AI assistant and reading my employee manual. NOVA (Neurovance Operational Virtual Assistant) was an extension of the Nexus app, and she helped employees with all sorts of tasks. She told me that over time, she would learn my habits and needs, but for now, I found myself talking out loud to her constantly.
My cube was spacious and modern. It was laid out like a tiny bungalow with a full living room, kitchen, and a bedroom/bathroom on the main floor. The floors were a sleek white oak, and there were several vases with trendy bouquets on the black marble surfaces, and even a little electric fireplace set before a black suede sectional.
I asked NOVA to turn on the fireplace and curled up with my manual and a glass of sparkling kombucha that I’d found in my fully stocked fridge.
Jay hadn’t been kidding about the section of the manual dedicated to employee behavior. There was a whole section on culture that was very progressive.
They put a big stress on inclusivity and how to set personal boundaries with other employees, which I appreciated. Also, the zero-tolerance,no-bullying policy Jay had mentioned was outlined in detail, which made me feel a little safer.
Contrarily, while Neurovance seemed to be big on setting personal boundaries, they were adamant about their ‘innovative approach to work-life balance.’ The Nexus campus had been designed to break down the boundaries between work and employees’ personal lives.
By giving employees everything they could possibly need at work, the theory was that they would be less burnt out and burdened by things like commutes.
Strict on-campus curfews extended to emails and messages from managers and senior staff after hours, making it easier for employees tounplugandrecharge.
All employees, but especially new employees, were encouraged to stay on campus for several weeks before venturing back into the outside world so that they had the opportunity tofully immersethemselves in Neurovance culture.
Apparently, leaving campus without a signed and approved permission form was not only discouraged but could result in disciplinary action.
This was to protect both the culture and Neurovance’s intellectual property. New NDAs needed to be drawn up depending on which projects employees were working on each time they left to visit friends and family, which… while extreme, did make sense.
Another interesting policy that was different from what I knew of most other corporations was that Neurovance has amandatoryhealth program.
Employees, while living on campus, were expected to show up for mandatory monthly checkups where they received bloodwork, updates to vaccines against a myriad of different health risks, from respiratory viruses to STIs. There was even one clause that statedallemployees needed to be on PrEP and tested regularly for HIV. There was a very‘public relations’approved quote from Luke at the bottom of the healthcare page that stated the health of Neurovance employees was of the utmost importance, and he was proud to be the founder of such an advanced company healthcare package.
“This seems a little… presumptuous,” I murmured, frowning at the package. Making it mandatory for employees to receive shots just to be qualified to work for a company was definitely toeing the line of what was ethically okay to ask of someone in exchange for honest labor.
“Yeah, take all that with a grain of salt,” NOVA piped up cheerfully when I asked her about it. “The health package is more about company productivity than any sort of actual concern for employee health.
“Another big reason for theno touchingrule was to prevent STI outbreaks with staff living on campus, but it just wasn’t realistic. A few years ago, we had a massive chlamydia outbreak, as Luke can’t really control what people do when they leave campus to see their families.
“The outbreak negatively impacted workflow, and we missed a ton of projected deadlines that year, so now everyone needs to get poked. It’s also another reason why there’s so much paperwork involved for anyone who wants to go visit their families.”
“Jiminy Christmas…” I breathed, staring down at my pamphlet with wide eyes. “I’m…uh, I’m a virgin. Do I still need to do all these tests?”
“Yep. Tests and vaccines are mandatory for everyone, no matter what your situation is. Married, asexual, celibate, doesn’t matter. Would you like me to make an appointment for the end of the month? Dr. Colbert has some availability in a few weeks.”
“Uhm, sure, thanks NOVA,” I muttered, feeling like my head was spinning with all these new rules. I didn’t love that it seemed like I would need to go through an extensive bureaucratic process every time I wanted to leave campus to go visit my mom, but I supposed that was just the way things were here.
I resolved to message my mom in the morning to let her know I wouldn’t be able to see her for a few months, at least not until my probationary period was through.
Though communication with the outside world was heavily regulated while on campus, we were encouraged to regularly update our feeds on the Nexus app. The manual said it was important to keep other employees updated on what we were doing in our day-to-day to foster ‘interdepartmental transparency and collaboration.’
My feed was already full of posts from people in orientation settling into their cubes. They’d all been pre-added as ‘friends,’ though therewas no ‘unfollow’ button. I’d shamelessly checked to see if I could mute Melanie’s posts, but no dice.
Once I was done with the manual, I switched on my Neurovance-provided laptop and dug into the employee portals.
