Trading Places

The Boston Globe reports on an "trading places" initiative at Conover Tuttle Pace, a public relations and advertising firm. The company runs a Summer Sublet desk swap, in which the company's employees (approximately 35 people) trade office spaces for the summer months. The initiative includes all employees, even the firm's president. The company chose to implement this initiative to help people communicate more effectively and to break down barriers between silos, particularly to foster better integration between the creatives and the account executives. Here's one interesting result, as reported by the newspaper:

"The department heads, on the other hand, have found that they enjoy sitting next to their employees. The president of the company liked the experience so much last summer that he stayed out on the floor all year. 'I just become a little bit more aware of what’s going on here,' Conover said."