Thinking Inside the Box: The HyperStress Environment

Combining the best of faith and fact-based world views, Intellitrends 20/20 and Niul Systems last year cut the ribbon on the first Intellitrends Total HyperStress Environment at Niul Systems' Headquarters in Mount Vernon, New York -- the latest and perhaps the final word on corporate architecture as stimulus to employee efficiency and dedication.

"I think stress has been given a bad name in this country," said Thomas Spunt, Niul CEO, sitting in his firmly anchored corner office at the Niul corporate headquaters. "I went to Intellitrends 20/20 and they agreed with me that most employees are giving nowhere near 110% of themselves to the company mission. They also agreed there's only so much you can solve through teamwork and cooperation."

Team HumEng (Human Engineering) at Intellitrends, in concert with Javenko Construction, the Boston-based builder of big box stores, set to work on creating a corporate headquarters that would empower employees to focus with laser-like precision on their core company value: an all-consuming commitment to the creation of shareholder value.

Niul's new headquarters features a sophisticated, computer-controlled track and hoist system which randomly rotates, elevates and redistributes employees' cubicles throughout the building in the small hours of the morning just before dawn. Employees who leave before 4 a.m. thus come back to find their cubicle has been shuffled to some other floor and some other area within the 10 story mega-shed structure.

"It's all about risk and reward" says Intellitrends' VP Kip Westlake. "By staying and pulling all-nighters night after night, you are rewarded by the fact that you don't have to waste the morning looking for your cube. Employees who do go home task themselves with the risk of wasting time looking for their offices in the morning. And since time is money, those employees risk losing the respect of their colleagues as well as their jobs."

Over the past year, the Intellitrends HyperStress Environment has increased productivity at Niul 110%, company morale 119% -- and all this with a workforce that is now half the size.

Which just goes to show that at Intellitrends 20/20, we think both outside and inside the box.