The Naked Office: Employee engagement through nudity?
David Woods, 04 August 2009
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1 comment on this article.Was it barefaced cheek or just pure naked ambition? Ad agency Onebestway believed stripping off for a day could break down communication barriers between staff.
Over the years HR magazine has featured dozens of weird and wacky HR ideas. But this must surely top the lot. We present to you the 'naked office'.
Ailing Newcastle-based advertising agency Onebestway needed a kick up the bum, so it invited all its staff to waggle theirs freely and work for one full day completely starkers (right).
In a bid to engage and motivate employees at the company, Michael Owen, the firm's managing director, invited business psychologist David Taylor for help. The author of The Naked Leader - you can guess what's coming - suggested the workforce strip off for a 'naked Friday'. The aim? To build confidence and trust among colleagues, obviously.
Owen tells HR magazine: "It was a journey for us. I can't rationalise it at all, but being naked put all staff on the same level and we were in a very unique place together in an inclusive and non-judgmental environment."
Owen says he and the rest of his team (aged between 25 and 40) committed to the project wholeheartedly; Owen commuted in the buff (by car, thankfully) and even managed to fit in some work while he and his other team members were being filmed for a documentary by Virgin 1. But would he ask his staff to go through the experience again?
"We're a creative agency," he says, "and although we did it partly for the publicity, the pace of communications between staff is much faster now. Barriers have broken down and we are much more bonded as a team. I would not have allowed this to happen if even one person on the team said 'no'."
But Rob Yeung, chartered psychologist and director of Talentspace, is not convinced nude staff equals motivated staff.
He explains: "I don't see the long-term benefits of this. Team-bonding initiatives tend to unite staff for a couple of days but as the weeks wear on staff usually settle back into old ways. The 'barriers broken down' here will be short-lived."
He adds: "I don't understand any positive reasons for doing this - it sounds more like a PR stunt than a good HR initiative.
"I have never heard of anything like this being done before and I doubt a large company with an HR department would have allowed something like this to take place. There are far too many moral and legal issues."
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michael own - 10 August 2009
Hello David and thank you for posting this story.
It's been quite widely discussed as I think you know.
I'm commenting primarily because of something I'll mention iat the end - but first of all I'll let you and your readers know how this thing happened to onebestway.
It was quite by chance really. A phonecall from Virgin 1 one Friday looking for adventurous people and - well - they found us.
It was scary and interesting in equal measure. But it was genuinely as enlightening as it was unique.
We were making a tv show, having a little fun in these gloomy times and tip-toeing around the issue of whether this would help our business too. I had no idea and little faith to be honest in the last of these three things.
But the truth is that it did actually help onebestway.
A lot. And it's still helping. It's changed us permanently you see.
It has made us a faster, closer group of people that are braver and more confident than ever in our ability to produce clever, award winning marketing and design as a team. There is permanent change.
As a 'raw material' we were probably just about perfect though I have to say. Good friends, we look after each other, we are non judgemental and we are adventurous.
So this is definitely not for everyone.
But I'll now come to why I am taking the time to comment.
onebestway has been 'covered' by two distinct types of journalistic approach. The slightly cringey 'The Sun' and 'TV Quick' environment. We winced a little but it's all good fun and there was little in the way of true nastiness. More sensationalism and a few giggles.
Then there's the higher brow interest. I am delivering parts of an MA course at one University, I am talking at a couple of other Universities about radical approaches to bettering business and I am chatting to a group of enrepreneurs on the subject too later this year. It's been great fun.
I felt the need to drop you a line because you article is - well - just a little 'empty' I think.
It feels like neither one thing or the other to me, you see.
It feels like you are simply telling your readers about 'something that happened'.
It woudl have been fab if you were trying to really help them to see the true benefits in these teeny-tiny lifetimes of ours of fun, adventure, and o-my-gosh moments. Even in business.
It woudl have been equally as fab if - in an educated and inteligent way - you were arguing that what we did was a bad thing to do.
Reading it back it just feels a little, well, weak. Like a guffawing schoolboy.
I'm not having a dig really; it's fabulous that you have mentioned us and 'love us or hate us' I really don't mind.
I guess I just expected a little more flair and/or conviction from your publication - perhaps above any other.
Anyhow, there's more here if anyone wanted to have a peep: http://blog.onebestway.com/.
Have a great week and thank you again for the mention.
Michael Owen
MD
onebestway
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