How to bring Feng Shui into the office
Last fall, Canon Europe decided to hire Feng Shui consultant Dr. Simona F. Mainini to redesign their offices in order to help address “high levels of employee office stress and rage.”
The company was happy with the results, and it recently released Dr. Mainini's 30-plus page report for free. It's a very readable document filled with useful advice. You can download the PDF here.
For those not familiar with Feng Shui, the report explains that it “uses natural laws to explain how the life-force energy of the planet (called “Qi”) operates in the physical environment in relation to time, space and individual human beings.”
In practical terms, it offers “specific guidelines on how to site, orient, design, and decorate the buildings where we live and work so as to harmoniously capture this planetary life-force energy and use it productively to support our health and well-being, improve our lives, and attain the goals we so industriously pursue.”
Feng Shui can be applied to the colours, light, furniture, and materials used inside an office. The report also advises people to spend time in nature, meditate, get lots of sleep and to consider taking up yoga or a similar form of exercise. For businesses, Feng Shui is used to increase productivity, reduce stress, and help the bottom line.
“In my experience, using Feng Shui to increase your business income is easy,” writes Dr. Mainini. “But maintaining the happiness and well-being of individuals is a lot more complicated.”
Her report concludes with 10 tips for bringing Feng Shui into the office. I've included them below. Read the full report if you want the advanced class.
TOP 10 FENG SHUI OFFICE TIPS
1) Reduce the use of glaring florescent lighting to a minimum. Natural light and fresh air are always preferable. To reduce excessive exposure and “fish-bowl-effect”, use window treatments.
2) In locating a desk, whenever possible, always provide direct views to an entrance. Avoid placing an employee in a direct line with the door of an office or a cubicle.
3) Colors like green, blue-green, and blue will do well. Avoid the extensive use of white on walls. Avoid patterns, especially multiple or clashing patterns of colors or textures.
4) Plants and water in general will do well in highly stressful environments, as long as they don't create more clutter (and more stress).
5) De-clutter and organize desk and storage spaces – including digital - and create more storage space whenever necessary.
6) Place desks in the “power position”, with the back to a solid wall rather than an open space. All desks should be “floating”, rather then facing the wall, when doing most of your work.
7) In a cubicle, the main working surface should be positioned facing toward the hallway, separated with a medium-height partition.
8) For the open plan, I suggest using medium height partition or bookshelves to reproduce the “power position” behind the employees' back.
9) Use advanced Feng Shui techniques to activate specific supportive directions based on date of birth or building orientation.
10) To reduce stress and promote well-being, practice a moderate and balanced lifestyle. Remember: stress shouldn't be an excuse for poor behavior inside, or outside, the office.
Happy anniversary to the cubicle
Forty years ago this month Herman Miller began marketing the Action Office. You know it better as the cubicle. Yes, those wonderful veal-fattening pens have been around for 40 years.
Designed by the late Robert Propst, the Action Office wasn't supposed to end up like this. Workers were supposed to have more space and more privacy. Propst designed it to have two different desks, “one for sitting and one for standing,” according to Joe Schwartz, who was a marketing director for Herman Miller at the time.
Schwartz recently spoke with the Kansas City Star, and explained that the original Action Office is nothing like the cubicles of today.
“The basic idea of movable walls was a beautiful thing for employers and employees,” reports the paper. “For management, reconfiguring space could be accomplished without costly and messy drywall work. Employees gained storage, some privacy, even shelves.”
“This was a wonderful concept,” according to Schwartz. He also said that, “Propst had the idea that sitting wasn't good for you and that people could both sit and stand at work and that would improve their health.”
Unfortunately, the cubicle evolved in a very small, drab and surprisingly inflexible piece of furniture. From the article:
The Action Office met with some resistance. Managers wondered if privacy was such a good idea. Cost, as always, was an issue. Desks on two levels?
But the biggest alteration was that the cubicles shrunk in response to demands on office space, Schwartz said.
Still, said Leonard Kruk, co-author of Complete Office Handbook, the cubicle was a great improvement over what came before: row after row of free-standing desks or vast bullpens.
Privacy and individual expression hadn't been on the agenda. A simple desk meant, maybe, one plant and a photograph.
If the set-up today's workers prefer is for everyone to have an office, he said, that's not going to happen.
“You have to house people efficiently and at the same time give them the ability to collaborate with one another,” Kruk said.
When you're part of a team, being able to hear one another — even on the phone — can be helpful.
But that's also the chief problem with the “collaborative environment” of cubicles. Sometimes employees need to be free of distractions, to have time to concentrate.
Chances are good that the cubicle will survive for many more decades, according to Schwartz.
“The death of the cubicle has been forecasted for the past 40 years, but apparently it provides benefits rather than causes problems,” Schwartz said.
If you're interested in reading more about Propst's views on the cubicle, I suggest you read this interview with him. You can also watch some cubicle-filled film clips here.
Why you should know how much your coworkers make
I can count on one hand the number of times that colleagues have asked how much money I make. Six years ago, when I worked at a technology company, almost no one asked me directly about my salary, and yet I had many discussions about what other people were being paid.
We all talk about salaries at work: who's overpaid, who's underpaid, who negotiated the best deal. But only people in HR know everyone's salary. This helps feed rumours and speculation, which can breed resentment and mistrust. So should companies move towards “transparent salaries” and be open about how much people make?
Penelope Trunk thinks so. Trunk, the author of Brazen Careerist and a career columnist, recently made a case for transparent salaries. She wondered who benefits from secret salaries and concluded that it's “Certainly not the employee—the more transparent salaries are, the more accurately an employee can assess his or her value to a company.”
Trunk says secret salaries help the company hide pay mistakes. No one except HR and a manager will know if an employee is making far to little, or too much. “If they make an error, they can hide it,” she writes. “No one will know. And then they can make ten errors. Because no one knows if the secret salaries are hiding one error or one hundred.”
She's now working to introduce transparent salaries within her company:
I haven't done it quite yet with my own company, but I'm going to. I've been giving everyone some data just to get them ready for the big picture. Almost everyone is not happy, because even in my little start-up, I've made salary errors.
For example, the person who was underpaid was not so much jubilant about a potential raise, but upset about his current underpayment. The person who's losing the housing allowance mostly for tax purposes does not seem to mind. The person who is making way more than everyone else minds a lot that I'm planning on revealing everyone's salaries. But honestly, I think that person will work much harder if everyone knows the truth. And it should be that way.
Trunk's post lists three websites that track salary trends, one of which, Glassdoor, I wrote about here. Her post also inspired Lifehacker.com to run a poll of its readers to gauge their views on transparent salaries. Here's how the more than 3,500 responses broke down:
Yes! Knowing what everyone makes would adjust everyone's expectations accordingly and allay suspicions that HR has it wrong. 25% (888 votes)
No way. It would just foster jealousy, resentment, and endless salary negotiations. 18% (647 votes)
To some degree. Companies should publish a clear org chart with salary ranges attached to each level--but not exact numbers on an employee by employee basis. 50% (1777 votes)
I'm not sure, but I'd like to try out going transparent at my office to find out. 6% (214 votes)
I'm not sure, but I'd like to see how things would be different at my company if it wasn't transparent. 2% (61 votes)
Should companies be moving to transparent salaries? Let me know in the comments.
Meet the new anger: ‘desk rage'
It seemed inevitable that the trend of tagging situational anger with “rage” would one day make its way into the office. We're already familiar with “road rage” and “air rage,” and there's also “computer rage,” which is self-explanatory, and “wrap rage,” a term used to describe the anger and frustration born of complex product packaging.
Now add one more to the list: desk rage.
A recent Reuters report introduced the term, describing it simply as anger in the workplace. This isn't a new phenomenon, but now we have a term for it.
"It runs the gamut from just rudeness up to pretty extreme abusive behaviors," Paul Spector, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of South Florida, told Reuters. "The severe cases of fatal violence get a lot of press but in some ways this is more insidious because it affects millions of people."
Spector's research into desk rage found that “2 percent to 3 percent of people admit to pushing, slapping or hitting someone at work.” He also notes that “desk rage extends across industry and class lines, from top white-collar jobs to gritty blue-collar work, and companies pay dearly in terms of lost productivity, sagging morale and higher absenteeism…”
The Reuters piece offered some additional workplace anger statistics:
Nearly half of U.S. workers in America report yelling and verbal abuse on the job, with roughly a quarter saying it has driven them to tears, research has shown.
Other research showed one-sixth of workers reported anger at work has led to property damage, while a tenth reported physical violence and fear their workplace might not be safe.
"It's a total disaster," said Anna Maravelas, author of "How to Reduce Workplace Conflict and Stress." "Rudeness, impatience, people being angry -- we used to do that kind of stuff at home but at work, we were professional. Now it's almost becoming trendy to do it at work.
"It was something we did behind closed doors," she said. "Now people are losing their sense of embarrassment over it."
If you believe one expert, it appears that road rage could play a role in desk rage.
"People are coming to work after a long commute, sitting in traffic watching their discretionary income burn up. They're ready for a fight or just really upset," said John Challenger, the head of workplace consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
By the time people make it to work, they are already filled with the stress from everyday life. And that contributes to desk rage, according to Challenger.
This isn't surprising information. The question is whether giving workplace anger a catchy name is going to help motivate people to address the issue, rather than offer an excuse for their behaviour.
Do you have a “crummy job”?
I know many of you will already have an answer to the above question. Hopefully it's no. Maybe it's yes. But if you're unsure, the folks at management website BNET recently offered up “Five Signs That You Have a Crummy Job.”
It's part of a larger package of articles entitled “Return of the Crummy Job.” The idea is that our current economic troubles could be turning your good gig into a crummy job.
“We're talking about what happens to otherwise compelling and rewarding work when a serious economic slump hits inside a company,” according to the site. “That great job you landed a year ago starts to feel a little... crummier each day, as you're asked to do more with less, demand more of your people, and keep your own aspirations and integrity intact.”
Along with helping determine if your job has turned crummy, BNET also offers some good advice, from “How to Manage Your Team in a Downturn (and Come Out on Top)” to “Recession-Friendly Employee Perks.” You can also watch a video about “Motivating a Stressed-Out Staff.”
But back to those crummy jobs. Here's the number three sign that you have one:
Crummy Factor #3: A Climate of Fear Sets In
Day-to-Day Impact: Coworkers get political.
Dwindling resources and shrinking headcounts rattle the psyches of all employees. “When scarcity is upon us, we fight for our share of the pie,” says executive coach and business psychologist Debra Condren. “It's survival of the fittest.”
That's exactly what happened at Deloitte Consulting in the run up to the 2001 recession, says a former operations consultant for the company's L.A. office. “The culture got really ugly,” he says. With only 35 percent of the workforce assigned to consulting jobs, it's no wonder the political jockeys came out. Consultants started brown-nosing higher-level partners with Dodgers tickets and offers to babysit. “One coworker actually started subscribing to a horse husbandry magazine because he knew one of the partners owned horses,” the consultant adds. In crummy times, the workplace becomes more about political maneuvering than actual work.
My wife, my boss
The other night I was watching an episode of Mad Men, the great drama about the world of advertising in the 1950s. On the show, the women at the Manhattan ad firm of Sterling Cooper work as secretaries and receptionists –- and nothing else. Plus, the ad men's wives steer clear of the office.
Given the era it's set in, this isn't a surprise. But then I came across an article in the New York Times about women who hire their husbands and it really drove home the contrast between then and now. There are of course still barriers to women in the workplace, but the progress is undeniable.
“At a time when high-profile women have suffered some setbacks on Wall Street and when women in general still struggle for pay parity, a group of entrepreneurs has proved that women are comfortable not only with running their own companies, but also with having their husbands work for them,” reports the Times article.
It cites the example of Laura Udall, a woman who owns and operates the Züca Inc. luggage company, and her husband Nick, whom she hired as her vice president for design and manufacturing. “The buck really stops at me,” according to Ms. Udall.
Her husband agrees.
“That she would be chief executive was not an issue from the get-go,” Mr. Udall said. “When I first met her, I realized that she was one of the best salespeople I ever saw. I come from operations and marketing.”
The piece reports that “The men interviewed for this article seemed comfortable working at family companies controlled by their wives, perhaps because those who agree to that arrangement are not threatened by it. It was the wives who tended to be more sensitive about the potential pitfalls of having their husbands on the payroll.”
One of the couples interviewed shared a novel approach to compensation: one year the wife receives a higher salary, and then it switches the next year. This is aimed at removing any money-related issues or resentment.
That business was started by the wife and they weren't together when he joined the company. He helped grow the business and they married five years after his hiring. They feel it's a true partnership, which is important to note because, in my opinion, a woman should have no problem taking a higher salary if her position warrants it. But this arrangement seems to make sense for them.
It's true that men are conditioned to want to be the big money maker in the household. The difference here is that these guys will have to ask their wives for a raise.
Hat tip to the Workplace Prof Blog.
The workplace as a new frontier for marketers
Workplace experts love to point out the fact that so many of us spend more time at work than doing anything else in our lives. Unfortunately, it's true. Kinda sad, too. But if you work in advertising or marketing, this is an extremely important fact.
Recent data from BIGresearch show that workers spend a significant amount of on-the-job time evaluating potential purchases, shopping and otherwise flexing their consumer muscles. More than 90 percent of American workers spend time talking about products with coworkers.
”At-work consumers research products online before purchasing, with 47.2 percent of them reporting having researched electronics online in the last 90 days during the workday before making a purchase in a store,” according to an article about the findings published on MediaPost.com. (You need to sign up for a free account to read the article.)
It's also not surprising to learn that close to 75 percent of American workers eat lunch at a restaurant or buy groceries during the workday. For marketers, these figures confirm that they should be “targeting gainfully employed, value-seeking consumers,” according to Phil Rist of BIGresearch.
Stephanie Molnar, CEO of WorkPlace Media, says that, “The American workplace has become the most lucrative marketing channel for advertisers looking to connect with consumers…”
Yup, they're coming for you. At work. Mohar's company is already bringing brands into the workplace through sampling campaigns. WorkPlace Media says its “network of employers contains 920,000 companies that represent over 64,000,000 at-work consumers.”
Here's a passage from a WorkPlace Media case study about a campaign it managed for Goodyear (link goes to a PDF):
As part of its marketing plan, Goodyear designed a program with WorkPlace Media that distributed an annual VIPdiscount card to 58,333 businesses, representing 4,200,000 employees. The program covered 430 Goodyear locations nationwide and reached an average of 9,800 employees within a 3 mile radius of each service center. Offers were customized by district to reflect regional pricing, personalized by store location, and the offers provided savings on oil changes, tires and automotive service.
It's not exactly the same as placing ads in cubicles – and I should note that ads are already in some office bathrooms -- but I imagine some workers wouldn't like to be marketed at while the workplace.
Still, it's not surprising to hear that brands are looking for ways to engage with consumers in a place where we spend such a huge amount of time.
With thanks to Kirk LaPointe's always interesting MediaManager blog for noting this research.
Parting shots, part two
My feature about scathing farewell and resignation emails in yesterday's paper has generated a lot of interesting comments on the story. I have to admit it was a really fun piece to write.
After it appeared, I heard from a few people who said they were either considering a parting shot, or that they were the recipient of one. Though I don't encourage people to burn their bridges with a soon-to-be ex-employer, I do want to show curious readers where they can find the full versions of the parting shots quoted in the story. All of them are worth a full read.
Comedy writer Chris Kula's farewell email is online here, and you can read his follow up post here.
Shinyung Oh's full goodbye email is online here, and her interview with the Wall street Journal is here.
The farewell email from an employee of Christie's auction house is here.
And Stewart Butterfield's resignation email is here.
I also recommend you read this article about famous resignation letters. There are some interesting examples. Finally, do take the time to read the comments on my article. I'm really enjoying them and would love to see even more folks share their thoughts. And if you know of other notable parting shots, please feel free to email me a copy, or a link.
Blowing the whistle on your employer
Employees know the faults of a company better than anyone else. Sure, industry analysts track the big picture and customers also have important insight. But employees see the good and bad on a daily basis, and from the inside.
So when employees are so frustrated with the way something works – or doesn't – that they feel the need to create a scathing PowerPoint presentation outlining all of the faults in one part of the business, you'd hope a company would pay attention. This is the situation that U.S. cable giant Comcast finds itself in.
The presentation in question can be viewed at the Consumerist blog. Here's how they describe it
The powerpoint, created by a Comcast account executive and currently getting passed around inside one of their call centers, sounds a giant klaxon that the company is extremely screwed up. It warns of the perils of not addressing bad tech behavior, demoralized employees, high turnover, baroque customer service templates, and metrics that force employees to upsell additional services on top of the ones that aren't even working right in the first place. There's quotes and stories from real customers, like the one about the tech who said he had to go out to his van to get a screwdriver, and just drove off, rather than bother completing the install. Or how routine it is for techs to ring or knock and then bust out before they can even get to the door. Or how customers are getting lied to over the phone about plans and pricing. The embarrassments just keep coming and coming.
On the positive side, it's good that an account executive took the time to articulate the pain being felt by customers, and why it's so embarrassing for the company. On the negative side, the presentation demonstrates that problematic customer service practises are not being addressed. It appears as if the company doesn't care. (Of course, the fact that the presentation is all over the Web is also a headache for the company.)
The presentation, which includes many real world examples of abysmal customer service, is 28 slides long and frankly makes me happy I'm not a Comcast customer. It appears some Comcast employees feel the same way.
That's a serious problem.
Managing Generation Y
Workplace writers are admittedly a bit obsessed with Generation Y.
These young workers, born in 1980 and after, are making their way into offices at the same time that some Boomers are preparing to exit. I say some because studies show that many Boomers plan to keep working away. Which means they'll have to deal with these young whipper-snappers.
In terms of my fixation on Gen Y, I previously noted an eye-rolling piece produced by 60 Minutes, looked at their tech skills, and examined how these newbies are being integrated into the workplace, to name a few. Other Globe writers have also written about Gen Y, including this piece about their sense of company loyalty.
I'm sure some people are sick of hearing about this tech savvy, ambitious generation. But like it or not, you will be working with them now or in the near future. (For the record, I was born a few years before the 1980 cutoff. I'm kind of Generation In Between: neither X nor Y.)
So here's the latest bit of useful Gen Y advice I came across. G.L. Hoffman, an entrepreneur who says that 75 percent of his employees are under 30, offered US News & World Report ten tips for managing Generation Y workers. I think the first nine are right on point. Number 10 is going to require some research on you part.
Hoffman's Top 10:
- Be authentic. Be yourself—don't try to be one of them, or someone you are not. They can smell insincerity.
- Transparency is key. They want to know what is happening, what you are doing, and how what they do fits in.
- Add value. As long as you are adding value to them and their skills, you are OK. Choose to ignore this and they will leave you for someone who will.
- Let them use their media. Let them use Facebook, MySpace, and IM at work. From time to time, we have server issues and ask them to restrict their use and we get no complaints.
- They want trust. They want you to trust them and more than that, they want to trust you and their workplace.
- They want standards. They want to know the rules and the standards that they and others must adhere to. They want fairness.
- They like a cause. They want to belong to something bigger, with a clear and simple idea.
- Set up groups and committees and stand back. This is a great way to keep them involved while you learn new ideas.
- Expect varied, non-chain-of-command type communications. If they need something to do the job better, expect them to search and find it. Or tell you.
- Everything you learned from Peter Drucker still applies. But—roughly—times 10.
Craig Silverman is a Montreal freelance journalist who writes The Office, a weekly workplace culture column for Globe Life. He blogs here about office life and encourages your comments and contributions. Craig's writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times and Montreal Gazette, and he is the editor of RegretTheError.com, the award-winning media errors and corrections blog. He braved the world of open-concept offices and cubicles at a software company during the dot-com boom, and fondly recalls those heady days of free massages and stock options for all.
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