Bonnie Blair admits she was a little nervous the day she started work at the Vancouver headquarters of 1-800-Got-Junk?

Who could blame her? Shown to her cubicle, Blair found herself in heady company, flanked by the CEO on one side, the CFO on the other.

"More than anything I didn't want to say anything that would make me sound like an idiot," she says, laughing at the memory.

It turns out she had no worries. Today, nearly two years after joining the growing North American junk-removal service, Blair says that openness - where the entire leadership team sits with the rank and file - is the company's greatest asset.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge

CEO Brian Scudamore says there will never be private offices in his large, growing company.

A trainer with the learning and development team, Blair no longer sits between the company's two heavy hitters. But she calls the experience invaluable.

"It was awesome because it gave me this wealth of knowledge that I wouldn't have had. I think the open environment really fast-tracks people's learning. You absorb so much."

While the open-office concept has its negatives (primarily noise levels), Blair says it works because people are respectful.

"Guilty" of being one of the louder talkers in the office, she says the atmosphere is comfortable and co-workers take each other's personal boundaries into consideration.

"With me, if people in the office hear me on the phone, they'll say 'Hey, that was a good idea.' Or if it sounded like I was having a tough time, they'll say, 'Hey, here's something I did in the past that worked.' It's always given as positive support."

The open office is, and always will be, a company fixture to CEO and founder Brian Scudamore.

"We are approaching $100 million in sales. By 2012 we want to be a billion-dollar company, but there will still be no private offices," says Scudamore.

It's a philosophy that's apparently worked well. The last time he checked, the annual turnover rate was less than1.4 per cent (excepting call centre staff, which is primarily made up of students).

And a year ago, against more than 760 other businesses, 1-800-Got-Junk? was named B.C.'s top place to work in a provincial magazine survey conducted by human resources consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

The openness is a direct reflection of Scudamore's own experience. He started the company in 1989 and worked from a home office until 1994. When he needed to rent office space, he took his own private office. That lasted until 1997.

"I realized I can't work by myself," he explains. "I need the energy of being surrounded by people."

Located in trendy Kitsilano, Scudamore's company operates in a 20,000-sq.-ft. office, with 110 employees located on two floors. With sales projected at $74 million this year and a growing staff, Scudamore is looking for bigger space to accommodate the open concept.

The company does have private meeting rooms where employees can make calls, but people generally will respect each other's space, he says.

Additionally, employees are encouraged to set up meetings with peers via e-mail, instead of just dropping by someone's desk. And a morning "huddle" every weekday at 10:55 a.m. sharp has been particularly effective in reducing interruptions.

The seven-minute standup meeting began four years ago and the company hasn't missed a day. The entire staff gathers and a manager discusses pertinent news, good or bad. The meeting tends to eliminate time-consuming office gossip and politics because leadership has addressed the issue in person, Scudamore says.

The privately held company has no secrets, he adds. Employees take part in profit sharing, and each month employees and management meet to review all the financials, with the exception of salaries.

Staff members say that Scudamore - outgoing and a salesman - is a natural in the office, and don't feel he's looking over their shoulders, Blair says. Just as others will comment on her telephone conversations, company leaders are not perceived to be snooping.

"When we hear things, it's not eavesdropping," Scudamore says. "The things we hear are often valuable, not only to me, but to the business."

Chris Edgelow, founder and president of Edmonton-based Sundance Consulting Inc., says leaders who want to be successful create an atmosphere of openness by talking and listening to people.

"You're not going to be able to do it by e-mail, websites, newsletters or whatever it is," says Edgelow, whose business consults globally with organizations attempting to change their culture.

Many companies recognize that a 450-sq.-ft. corner office is not the be-all and end-all for managers, leaders or executives. Organizations such as global chipmaker Intel Corp., which include "top dogs" such as co-founder Robert Noyce, rejected the corner office from Day 1, says Edgelow.

"They have a cube and it's the size of most of the other people's," he says. "They are out there without any walls, without any roof. And they are accessible."

But the concept isn't an easy sell to old-style managers. An open environment takes more work and time to inform and engage people. Those that make the effort win, Edgelow adds, because people tend to thrive in that atmosphere.

"In times of rapid, dramatic change the only currency that has any validity is knowledge. And the more we can facilitate open, ongoing, honest conversations around information that's needed every day, then the better off the organization is going to be."

Got Junk's Scudamore feels that energy each morning he arrives at the office with his dog Grizzly in tow.

"I have my little dog running around the office, people on the phones, people having meetings sometimes, so the noise level can be high," he says. "But it keeps you awake and it keeps you going, keeps you excited."

Best of all, it keeps him in the loop. If there's a general feeling that people are stressed out about something, he feels it and hears it.

"I'm not down the hall in some distant office. People understand they can approach anyone on the leadership team.

"There's no ego, no mahogany desk, fancy gold-trimmed office. We're all on the same level and building this thing together."

Web Watch: www.1800gotjunk.com

www.sundance.ca

(Mike Dempster can be reached at miked@businessedge.ca)