Off the wall
Does radical art help productivity?Time was when every office looked pretty much like every other office. Flooring meant grey tiles (you could replace them easily when you spilled your Klix coffee) and the only stuff on the wall were calendars, architect’s impressions of the office exterior and comedy signs saying something hilarious like You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here But It Helps.
In unusually progressive offices, there might be a motivational poster showing a picture of a metaphorical businessman astride a metaphorical mountaintop, or a metaphorical businessman breaking a metaphorical finishing tape but generally, creative adornments were few and far between.
Well, no longer. Everywhere we go nowadays, offices look more and more like a wing of the Tate Gallery. And not just fancy creative offices in Shoreditch. Even accountancy firms and property consultants are pulling down the Anaglypta and splashing colour around with abandon.
Fine art, in particular, is popular. Robert Hiscox started a collection forty years ago to decorate the walls of his eponymous insurance firm. It’s now a fabulous collection that includes work by stratospheric names such as Emin and Hirst.
So what’s in it for the firms? ‘Most companies do not buy the art for the employees, but rather to impress clients,’ explains Yorgos Papadopoulos of Yorgos Glass, a studio that specialises in dramatic smashed glass artworks. (There’s an example of his work at the top of this page.)
Calming effect
‘But there are benefits for employees, too. Art lightens up one’s day. It is infinitely more pleasurable to work in an environment where the mind is challenged and the senses are stimulated by great art,’ Yorgos says.
But don’t workers get disquieted by all the broken glass knocking around, suggestive of shattered dreams and knives in backs? ‘Some people may be indifferent, but none will be bothered by it. Most people will find a calming effect in its beauty. The fact that it is broken glass sometimes helps people to relate to the aggressiveness of things that go wrong in their days.’
Yorgos recognises that art needs to be fit for purpose when it comes to commissions: ‘I wouldn’t ever create a work that is dark, violent or excessively aggressive for a workplace,’ he says.
Reflecting values
TMF is an organisation of ‘accountants, legal, financial, corporate secretarial and HR and payroll professionals’, and so presumably not known for creative libertarianism. However, working with Dominic Head of the recently-founded Arts Business Initiative, TMF has made impressive advances in both engagement and community responsibility via art.
‘With TMF, we’ve worked in places such as London, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong to support new and emerging artists,’ says Head. ‘It’s been a great experience for staff, and added a lot of value.’
In the TMF scheme, staff at all levels join together to identify works by young and emerging artists they feel to be motivational and reflective of the organisation’s values. The selected pieces are displayed in the office for a year. Artists are not paid, but their work is usually hung in client–facing spaces. The idea is that well-heeled clients might take a liking to it and ask about taking it home.
Does the art help the workforce? ‘We can’t prove that it actually stimulates productivity,’ Head says. ‘But the art does promote a sense that these are more than just working environments, building a perception that TMF is a great employer. I think art like this is better looked at as a retention, rather than a productivity, tool.’
Wow factor
OPR is a public relations company in Newcastle. It’s commissioned local artists to decorate its walls, and boardroom table, with press coverage generated by the company’s client work.
Emma Campbell, an OPR account director, spells out the benefits. ‘The table was commissioned to create a talking point and give to our boardroom the ‘wow’ factor,’ she says. ‘And it’s a great way to kick off a client meeting, as it demonstrates the success of our work.’
‘The team is constantly inspired by an office environment that is surrounded by results, positivity and client success,’ she adds.
But if all this talk of buying and commissioning expensive artwork isn’t in line with your budget, don’t worry. Those old motivational posters are still available, as are a variety of parodies on the theme. Best of all is maybe Demotivators. That’s the home of great lines such as Believe In Yourself: Because The Rest Of Us Think You’re An Idiot.
Put one of these on the wall if you want to give your people a laugh, but it might be best to hang it, unlike your Yorgos or your Emin, in a place where the clients can’t see it.
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