A little while ago, the Editorial Team visited Facebook Headquarters. It was a truly “eye-opening” visit to the world of tech and to see what goes on behind the scenes of a social media site that many of us use. On that same day too, I decided that I may have a second dream career! However, while I was there, there was something that struck me. All around the rooms, all over the walls, and even going down the staircases, there were posters! Posters painted, drawn and printed. They were all displaying some sort of motivating phrase or slogan and their designs were very, very intriguing…
Facebook takes the prospect of art and expressing one’s self quite seriously. Just past the entrance, there was a wall. This was absolutely covered in doodles, slogans and rather amazing art pieces! It was a chance for all the employees and visitors to draw what was on their mind. There was no limit to how much or how big your drawing could be as, when the drawing wall would be full, they’d repaint it to start all over again!
Back to the posters, yes. I must admit, they were all very different. There was not one prevalent art style for any of the posters. Some were done in pop art, some were very life like, some were made of just words and others could have been done by a five-year-old. Nevertheless, they all contributed to the same mission: To keep the employees going! To be frank, I felt very motivated and touched by some of the posters, but I was just a visitor. This may explain how and why those workers are more than happy to work there without grudging any other workers.
And, oh, how could I forget! There was not ONE plain wall. You heard me. Not ONE. The walls were all painted over in retro, bright colours- often spelling words or phrases. This added a little spot of excitement and, for some reason, happiness to the workplace. I could not help but stare at every single one of them and admire the simolest shapes for a little while.
I believe that, in any workplace, being free to express yourself is a positive thing. If those workers bottled up everything, had no outlets, or any great posters to keep them going (they’re VERY effective), goodness knows how dull Facebook would be today! In any workplace, stresses and problems may reflect in the work if the emplyee is not happy. All of these “arty” solutions definitely work best for the people of Facebook. Maybe, we can all take a leaf out of their book and see if those aspects of that modern workplace can help us too!
