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One of the great challenges for companies today is talent recruitment and retention. In today's highly mobile world, a young graduate or a capable manager can truly look upon the world as their oyster. Although in Asia, the primary concern of most employees remains financial: how much is the pay and what are the perks of the job? Yet increasingly, employees are also concerned about the organisation's culture.
Corporate culture is not something which many Asian businesses pay much attention to. There are many reasons for it. Corporate culture is often associated with something that is nebulous and uncertain, and most Asian businesses believe that there is only one kind of corporate culture that is acceptable, and that is old-fashioned hard work. But in an age when good help has never been harder to get, having the right corporate culture in your organisation of not having any at all, could be the difference between your business or organisation being a great success or a begrudging success with never-ending staff problems.
Today's Gen X and Y employees are concerned about the paycheque, work-life balance and the corporate culture of their workplace. There is an increasing reluctance to work in organisations with toxic organisational politics, dog-eat-dog management practices or those are dull and uninspiring.
What has all this got to do with Feng Shui? Feng Shui not only has a distinct influence on the corporate culture and environment of an organisation, but can also be use to improve the culture and environment of an organisation. Of course, the reverse also applies. The Feng Shui of a building or office can actually cause the transformation of an organisation's culture from positive to negative.
Ever wondered why some organisations, regardless of how many restructurings taking place, in spite of a number of personnel changes, simply cannot rid themselves of a toxic back-stabbing culture? Or how a company which started with a great culture and happy employees became a dog-eat-dog, fractious, tense place to work in after the company moved into a new building? You may even have heard of what is called "Sick Building Syndrome" where people occupying that particular office building seem to constantly fall ill or simply feel extremely uncomfortable or unwell at the office.
Feng Shui consultants who work on residential Feng Shui know that the Feng Shui of a home greatly influences the mindset, thinking and emotional state of the occupants. Here's a micro-scale example: a person who sleeps in a bedroom where the current year's Wealth Star (the #8) is located will generally be more focused on materialistic goals, or financial goals, and will be more inclined to work hard. In contrast, a person who sleeps in an out of timing #6 Star is influenced negatively on money matters, because the #6 Star denotes a miserly temperament. Occupants of homes with good Feng Shui are healthier, have fewer emotional problems, are more well-equipped to handle the challenges of life and most importantly, are generally happier.
As such, the Feng Shui of an office, where most people spend anywhere between six and 10 hours of their time five days a week, will obviously also influence the mindset, thinking and emotional state of the person who works there.
An increasing number of our clients are beginning to prioritise adjusting or designing their Feng Shui to improve or affect a particular type of corporate culture of their organisations first, making the tangible fixes, such as profits and revenue, secondary. We find that these clients are usually also those who are are open to using BaZi to assist in human resource management within their organisation, and ensuring that they have the right people in the right jobs. There is an increasing awareness that organisations and businesses need to not just have the right people, but have the right environment and culture that are conducive to business success.
When it comes to corporate culture and environment, the focus of the Feng Shui consultant is usually the structure of the building and also the internal layout of the office. Although the landforms (water and mountains) are also relevant, the environment and behaviour of individuals within the organisation tend to be a little bit more influenced by the building and office itself.
The case of Apple Inc
A company that produces uber-cool products must have a certain unique corporate culture and environment. Apple founder Steve Jobs is said to have pioneered the casual work environment in Silicon Valley. At Apple, the dress code is casual, but the work ethic is intense, with employees often spending a little too much time at their jobs. Jobs was known for walking around the office barefoot, even after the company became a Fortune 500 company. The Google map image above of the Apple HQ at 1 Infinite Loop tells us just how the Feng Shui of the organisation has enabled it to become the hip and cool company that employees associate with "challenges and cool projects".
The structure of the cluster of buildings on the campus is a combination of a square and round shapes. In fact, it looks like a computer mouse. Within the cluster are both square and round buildings. There is an open courtyard in the centre. In Metaphysics, square is the element of Earth, and represented by the trigram Kun. Round and oval shapes are the element of Metal, and governed by the trigram Qian. Kun-Qian forms the Earth-Heaven Unity Hexagram,which is regarded as one of the best of the 64 YiJing Hexagrams, and it denotes intense loyalty, great unity, harmony and altruistic spirit. These very much are in-line with the way Apple employees have described their workplace environment, describing it is "collegial". The Main Door is located at the Shen (Monkey) sector when the 24 Mountains are super-imposed over the structure. The Monkey is one of the 4 Growth Branches, and is associated with forward-thinking, young, robust, energetic and adventurous qualities. Hence, Apple's ability to create products that are forward-thinking, almost futuristic, as well as being exciting and cool.
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