The cult classic Office Space skewers a dysfunctional, depressing workplace and plays it for huge laughs; the epic struggle between Peter Gibbons, the suffering hero, and Bill Lumbergh, his sanctimonious boss, rings all too familiar to many. Gibbons is the archetype of the disengaged employee, and while his situation seems comically extreme, it’s not that far from reality. Levels of employee engagement remain shockingly low; Gallup’s most recent “State of the American Workplace” survey showed that 70% of American workers are not engaged at their jobs.
Unfortunately, poor management is perhaps the biggest contributor to employee disengagement. You could read one of the myriad HR manuals out there on the subject—or you could just watch Office Space for a picture-perfect illustration of how not to engage your staff. Here are just a few examples:
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Give exclusively negative feedback. The moment Peter arrives for work, his boss gives him a condescending lecture about the error he made putting the wrong cover on the infamous TPS reports (“TPS reports” have become a catchphrase for meaningless bureaucratic busywork for a reason). Another manager stops by to lecture him; he gets an additional reprimand over the phone, and his friends inform him that everyone’s talking about his screwup. It’s so basic it shouldn’t even have to be said, but if you are stopping by staff members’ desks first thing Monday morning to scold them about minor procedural mistakes, it’s unlikely they’re going to go the extra mile for you.
2. Put employee well-being last. The sign that hangs over Peter and his fellow Initech employees reads “Is it good for the company?” It’s there for comic relief, but it’s surprising how many businesses still operate with their profit margin as the ultimate guiding principle. Yes, companies need to make money; but employee engagement has an enormous effect on your bottom line. If 70% of your staff is phoning it in, your business is not going to thrive. Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity. “Put simply, an engaged workforce makes good financial sense,” says Victor Lipman at Forbes.com. Ask yourself: why should your staff value the company when the company doesn’t value them?
3. Make your office dull, depressing, and uncomfortable. Everything in the office space of Office Space is gray. The lighting is bad, the doorknobs shock people with static, and the printers don’t work. Management’s pathetic attempt at letting staff do something different and have some fun is to declare Friday “Hawaiian Shirt Day.” Not every office can look like a Design Within Reach catalog; but even on a tight budget, there are simple things you can make your office more appealing and comfortable. Atmosphere, color, and lighting can have a major effect on morale. Planning genuinely enjoyable events and activities for employees helps them bond, allows them to relax, and builds positive associations with their workplace. “Innovative companies are designing spaces where employees are excited to be,” says Red-Thread.com.
4. Offer no incentive or room for advancement.
Peter famously informs the Initech consultants: “It’s not that I’m lazy: it’s that I just don’t care.” And why should he? As he explains, even if he were to work harder, he’s never rewarded. He’s nagged all day by eight different bosses. His hard-working friends get fired, “All so that Bill Lumbergh’s stock will go up a quarter of the point.” Ask yourself, and be honest: why should employees of your business care about what they do? How is their performance recognized? How are they being mentored or guided so that their work experience is part of a fulfilling career, rather than a pointless chore they can’t wait to be done with?
5. Be completely out of touch. Lumbergh clearly knows nothing about Peter as a person and only talks to him to criticize or make demands. While drastically downsizing, the company lays off Peter’s hard-working programmer friends and instead gives Peter a raise and a promotion for doing nothing. The eccentric, red-stapler-obsessed Milton was apparently laid off years ago but for some reason continues to receive paychecks. The whole staff regards the executives as the enemy. If management is completely disconnected and out of touch with the people and processes in their own office, don’t expect much extra effort from staff.
In hilarious but truthful ways, Office Space shows how unhealthy management and lack of leadership contributes to a dysfunctional company culture and employee disengagement. In the movie, these shortsighted policies do not end well for Initech; but consider the fact that it was filmed in 1999, before the rise of social media. What might Peter and his friends have posted about their company if they’d had access to Facebook or Glassdoor? Their vengeance might have taken a completely different (but equally devastating) form...
