Love your work place? Hate your work place? Show off or crib on Wovox

WOVOX.com lets people show, share and find workplaces through pictures, videos and reviews. It's open to anyone who wants show others what's going on where they work or to find a workplace they like or to be inspired to create one for themselves. For most of us, work's a big part of life. Our happiness depends for a great deal on doing something we love in an environment we like. WOVOX provides a platform for people to bring transparency to companies, and use social media to share it.How did the founders hit up on such an idea? Says one of the cofounders Mundo Resink “Steven and Michel read an inspiring story about a company on a working holiday. They decided to do the same with their web design team at MARS media. Relaxing and working by the pool on Mallorca, they thought it would be nice to share their experience and spread the idea. And they realized how people looking for work never get to 'taste' a place before they actually go there. Things just started rolling from there. “

There is an interesting story behind the name as well. The name WOVOX sprouted during a restless night, after months of 'name-that-concept-already!' sessions. "WO" stands for "Workplace"; "VOX" is Latin for "Voice". A company's not what the boss says: it's all the people involved, and their experiences. So WOVOX gives people a voice about workplaces. But this naming thing was as much about finding a short and still-available domain-name. Here is a video that documents this.

This is what you can do on the platform:

• Add a workplace and share what it's like to work there through pictures, videos, and reviews.
• Embed a workplace picture slide-show on your own website or blog: see how Europeana embedded WOVOX on their 'jobs' page. [Here's Campaign Monitor's office on WOVOX
• Discover a thousand workplaces, with over 60 new ones every week.
• Be inspired, amazed and surprised - and share that stuff with your friends!

And as more people join, it is driving a shift towards transparency.

• Companies will be showing who they are, not who they want to be.
• With everyone allowed to share their workplace experience, hidden gems and crappy stuff will surface.
• Both are priceless information, and both are an opportunity for learning and growth

WOVOX is and will stay free. Right now, companies are paying Wovox to visit them with a camera and make them transparent on a free platform. This year they plan to release premium surrounding a free service open for anyone to use. Check out their blog to stay in the loop.

“I'm amazed by how social media create transparency, and help us to connect with people and things we never knew existed. One example: I walked into a little restaurant that I passed almost every day for seven years, never considering it as a place to eat. Kilimanjaro turned out to be one of Amsterdam's hidden culinary gems, revealed to me by people sharing their experiences online.

For most of us, work's a big part of life. Our happiness depends for a great deal on doing something we love in an environment we like. WOVOX provides a platform for people to bring transparency to companies, and use social media to share it.” says the Mundo Resink, one of three co-founders of WOVOX who work and live in Amsterdam.

What do you think of Wovox? Check it out for yourself : http://wovox.com/ . We at YourStory are getting a new office in Bangalore soon and we hope to write about our workspace on Wovox soon.