The Lessons Taught by The Movie "Office Space"

Close your eyes and picture this: On your early morning commute, you get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Your senses are bombarded with horns honking, the sound of breaks squeaking, and the pungent smell of exhaust. Your reward for making it through this mess isn't much better. Your individual cubicle awaits, lit only by artificial lights which have a way of making you look sick and feel hopeless. Once you arrive in your allotted space, you are faced with mountains of redundant, seemingly meaningless tasks you must complete, while answering to eight different bosses who don't communicate amongst themselves.

If the movie "Office Space" came to mind during this exercise, you are getting the right idea. While the movie's comedic portrayal of an office environment is exaggerated, as business owners, it's wise to learn the lessons you can glean from it.

Delegate

Bill Lumbergh is the boss in the movie "Office Space." He is often seen hanging around Peter's (main character's) cubicle, overreaching his boundaries and seemingly controlling every aspect of Peter's day. Peter also has eight bosses other than Bill, or maybe including him. This means everything has to be repeated over and over to the point of insanity. This drives Peter crazy, and it is not productive either.

Lesson #1: Give your employees what they need to do the job: training, materials, etc. Then, let them work. Get out of their way. Studies have even proven that micromanaging can cause employees to perform at a lower level, not higher. Just imagine trying to do even a simple task with someone standing right over your shoulder, and it's easy to understand why micromanaging is so detrimental.

Provide Well Functioning Equipment/Updated Software

In the movie, the copy machine almost takes on the role of character thanks to the fact that it is so detested by Michael and the other main characters. It seems this copier/printer will never work properly, which causes endless difficulties. Peter, Samir, and Michael (main characters) end up destroying the machine in a rural field outside town after their frustrations reach a boiling over point.

Lesson #2: You should provide your employees with what they need to get their job done as mentioned above. Sure, things break. That's understandable. However, expecting your employees to continue to use subpar equipment, computer, software, etc. yet still pushing them to meet deadlines and maintain the same level of production simply isn't fair.

Create a High-Quality Working Environment

It is no wonder the characters of "Office Space" so detest their jobs. They work in 6' x 6' cubicles with no windows. In addition, Peter is situated right across from another employee who patches calls through, so in essence, she spends all day saying "just a moment" in an irritatingly spunky voice.

Lesson #3: Cubicles are sometimes unavoidable in today's office buildings. However, give your employees the freedom to move around to break up their day. Make sure you have seating available for your employees outside where they can walk around and enjoy being outdoors. If outdoor space isn't an option, at least make sure you provide a lounge with couches or comfortable chairs where employees can go to take a break from their own cubicle walls.

Most employees understand that doing business in today's technology-saturated society often means they are required to sit at a desk and work on a computer most of the day. This doesn't have to look like the movie "Office Space," though. Thankfully, with a little thought and purposeful planning, you can ensure your employees never feel like Peter or the other characters from the movie. Simply adhere to these lessons from "Office Space," and you will be heading in the right direction.