Ah, the open office floor plan. Beloved by managers, begrudgingly accepted by workers. But what if your office were in…the White House?
Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and presidential hopeful, said on Monday that he’d turn 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.’s East Room into an “open office plan,” tweeting a photo of endless messy cubicles underneath the stark white, moulded ceilings of the White House’s event and reception room.
“I’ll use the Oval Office for some official functions — never for tweeting — but the rest of the time, I’ll be where a leader should be: with the team.”
As president, I'll turn the East Room into an open office plan, where I’ll sit with our team.
I’ll use the Oval Office for some official functions – never for tweeting – but the rest of the time, I’ll be where a leader should be: with the team. https://t.co/zIU3ZL5uIv pic.twitter.com/jLwWKJCmxw
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) December 30, 2019
Bloomberg’s tweet came alongside news that his campaign was moving its headquarters to Times Square and setting up shop in the old New York Times building on West 43rd St. A campaign official confirmed to Politico that the presidential hopeful now has more than 300 staffers at his headquarters.
“In sports, the coach or manager is right there with the players, giving directions, drawing on white boards, huddling during timeouts, motivating and inspiring — and picking someone up when they’ve made a mistake,” Bloomberg wrote in an email to staffers announcing the new offices, according to Politico. “Managers in every organization should be performing those same roles. Walls just get in the way, by stifling communication and making collaboration more difficult. Some people like to build walls. I like to tear them down.”
As for his decidedly corporate design plans for the White House? Twitter users and journalists alike had their own reactions.
me reading this tweet pic.twitter.com/9vZsvtVOcd
— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) December 30, 2019
executive orders via slack, let's fucking GO
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) December 30, 2019
The only people I've met who like open-office plans happen to have their own private office.
— Sedary Raymaker (@SedaryRaymaker) December 30, 2019
give 👏 the 👏 chief 👏 of 👏 staff 👏 a 👏 standing 👏 desk
— josh terry (@JoshhTerry) December 30, 2019
