Over 98 percent of American businesses maintain an “open door” policy, and most make it mandatory that employees participate. How the policy works can vary from workplace to workplace, however, as this look at six different companies demonstrates:
- At the Portnoy Group, a Seattle accounting firm, any employee is permitted to open the door to the offices of any executive at any time – but once the door is opened the employee is not permitted to come in.
- At GinFizzPlus, the Chicago iPhone app developer, employees are permitted to come in – but not to sit, talk, or touch any of the award plaques.
- At Chicago’s Milton Hines Fruit Emporium, executives’ doors are always locked but can be unlocked and opened if needed. Thus, before entering, an employee must be sure the matter is important enough for the executive to get up from behind his or her desk, come around, and unlock the door. Also, the employee must be able to state the purpose of the visit in 20 or fewer words, and also provide proposed action steps and desired outcomes.
- At Plickson – the financial reporters with offices across the country – executives never close their office doors. But since they don’t want people to hear what they say, they always speak in whispers. And if someone passes too close to the open door, they quickly change the subject.
- At Tellematters Marketing in Casper, Wyoming, there is a door to every executive’s office. The location of the door, however, is not made known. Thus, employees wishing to enter must take the initiative to do the research to find the door. Once the location is determined, however, the employee will find that the door is open and can proceed inside.
