(Did you read Part 1 yet? You don’t HAVE to in order to read this one, but it makes things a lot more fun!)
The next installment in this series critiquing movie and TV sets from a feng shui perspective takes us to good ol’ Scranton, PA! Ah, The Office. An instant classic. Michael Scott, Pam and Jim, Dwight…and an open-concept floor plan!
For those of you who have worked in an office with an open layout, you know how much it, well, sucks. For some reason, though, it’s very trendy right now. I think people believe that it fosters community, togetherness, and cooperation. And maybe it does. Slightly. But only because you are literally staring at the person sitting across from you for 8 hours a day.
It’s no surprise that The Office gang was constantly being pulled into Michael Scott’s schemes and activities because there is no way to avoid someone or drown them out in an open layout office. Any time someone is talking, you’re going to hear it. People tend to need headphones and music to work in these environments. And forget about taking personal phone calls! Your business is now everyone’s business. People need space to be private and alone and to focus, even at work, but an open concept layout makes that virtually impossible. It raises stress levels and employee dissatisfaction and negatively impacts productivity. In truth, this layout only benefits one person, the boss, because they can pretty much always see what you’re doing and how much (or how little) you’re working. How fun!
What can we take away from examining the feng shui of this TV set? An open-concept layout makes for great TV but a pretty bad real-life office environment.
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