Office Depot HQ lets workers go casual
Goal is to inspire innovation after much upheaval
BOCARATON— To say Office Depot’s headquarters employees have gone through upheaval in the past few years is an understatement.
The Boca Raton-based office supply retailer has survived a failed merger with Staples, two changes in top leadership, the acquisition and integration of OfficeMax, staff restructuring, ongoing store closures, and the continuing pressure of online competition.
But the latest adjustment is awelcome one for the 2,000workers at headquarters: Office Depot employees now can dress casually at work— every day. That’s because new CEOGerry Smith, who joined Office Depot in February fromtech company Lenovo, has instituted casual dress.
“For Gerry, it sent a quick signal that Office Depotwas changing,” said Michael R. Allison, Office Depot’s chief administrative officer.
“There has been three or four years that it has been about mergers, whetherwewere going to be acquired, and whether the headquarterswas going to stay here. The associates have really been through a lot in that time frame,” said Allison, who hasworked under four Office Depot CEOs since 2006.
Before the dress code change, Office Depot employees couldwear jeans on Fridays and holidays, butwere expected to wear “business casual” during the rest of the week, or even more formal clothes when meeting clients. Nowworkers canwear jeans any day and evenT-shirts, as long as there are no vulgarwords on them.
Store employees also can nowwear jeans, but with the familiar red shirts that bear the company logo.
At the headquarters, wearing jeans to the office is a visual symbol of how Smith is trying to change the company, Allison said. Office Depot recently announced, for example, that it is partnering with and has invested in Centriq Technology, a San Francisco startup that will develop an app for Office Depot’s business customers.
Office Depot’s stock has been responding to the momentum, up nearly 25 percent this year, hitting a new 52-week high of $5.81on July 13. But the retailer still struggles with lower sales and too many stores, analysts say.
To encourageworkers to thinkmore innovatively, Smithwanted to switch to Wendy Nesbeth, senior manager, Office Depot