One of the most beloved television shows of all time is the workplace comedy, The Office. While the show may have ended over 6 years ago, it remains incredibly popular. In fact, it is reportedly the most watched TV show on Netflix! Many people enjoy The Office because they see elements of their own workplace in the hijinks of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, but Envision’s Founder & CEO doesn’t watch this show for that exact reason – because it hits too close to home for him. When Todd first told me that The Office made him uncomfortable because at times it reminded him too much of Envision, it made me curious. Just how similar is our company to Dunder Mifflin?
Pranks
One of the defining elements of The Office is the prank war between Jim and Dwight throughout the show’s 9-season run. While we do not have any specific rivalries here at Envision like what Jim and Dwight had, we have been known to pull a prank or two. For example, there was the time we sent one of our new employees on a statewide wild goose chase for April Fool’s Day.
There was another April Fool’s Day where we created a bunch of “MISSING” posters for our CEO, Todd Knapp. We plastered these signs all over our building and the area surrounding our office letting people know that if they saw Todd they should “give him a warm embrace and tell him he is a swell guy."
Now that I think of it, maybe Todd is the “Dwight” of our office, because he seems to be the recipient of quite a few of the gags we pull, including an annual holiday prank we launch each year. One year we decorated his desk area like a gingerbread house. Another year we gift wrapped everything in his office (something that Jim actually did to Dwight as well), and this past year we filled his office with giant lawn inflatables.
Break Room/Snacks
Two of the areas of the Dunder Mifflin office shown pretty regularly on the show were the break room and the kitchen. While Envision does not have a wall of vending machines in our office (there are a few in the mill building we are in, however), we do have a kitchen space with plenty of coffee, soda, and other beverages, including a slushie machine that is always ready to churn out a frosty treat.
We also have a popcorn machine that sends the delicious scent of freshly popped popcorn into our office on a daily basis and a tiki-bar area that always seems to be stocked with goodies of one kind or another, from chicken wings, to tacos, to potluck lunches, to our once-a-month cake day festivities! Needless to say, the Envision team eats pretty well here at our office.
Game Days
The staff of Dunder Mifflin certainly enjoyed some healthy competition. The same can be said for the Envision staff. In the past, the Envision office has hosted a variety of competitions, including a Nerf gun skills tournament, a series of domino-focused challenges, a popsicle stick bridge building competition, and a tournament of children’s games. We even recently competed in an office-wide paper airplane flying challenge, an idea we actually took from an episode of The Office! Life imitates art.
Holiday Parties
Both Christmas and Halloween were holidays that were featured on multiple episodes of The Office over the years. As you’ve likely guessed, these are also holidays that are a pretty big deal at Envision. In fact, Envision’s annual Halloween party has become one of the highlights of our year. The entire company gets into the spooky spirit of the holiday and comes to work dressed in costume – and some of the costumes are really spectacular! In fact, we even have a “Best Costume” trophy that we award each year, adding the name and costume of that year’s winner to the trophy, which is proudly displayed at the front of our office.
While Halloween is without a doubt the biggest celebration Envision has, we don’t limit the fun to just October 31st. We’ve also had parties for Christmas, Cinco de Mayo, Summertime, and even a start-of-the-year bash we dubbed “Fancy Friday”.
Charitable Efforts
Like every good company, Dunder Mifflin did their part to give something back to the community. From “Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure”, to participating in silent auctions, to Michael’s big hearted but horribly doomed attempt to create a charity to pay for college for inner-city school kids, the staff at Dunder Mifflin at least tried to do something good.
Thankfully, Envision’s charitable efforts go much smoother than Dunder Mifflins. From pulling jets to benefits MS, to charity walks, to spreading some cheer and gifts for the holidays, the Envision team knows the importance, and the joy, of giving back.
Kevin
Yes, we even have our very own Kevin. We call him Greenbaum.
Want to Join in the Fun?
This post was obviously meant as a fun way to compare the silliness of The Office with our own workplace. It was also a great excuse to watch some clips from The Office on YouTube (many of which are linked throughout this article)!
While all of the comparisons and stories about Envision are 100% true, they actually only tell part of our story. Yes, we have lots of fun here, but we also do important, meaningful work helping our clients use technology to drive their businesses forward. This fun environment where team members can grow and thrive has made Envision a “Great Place to Work” for the past 12 years in a row.
If you’d like to join the team, check out our current career opportunities and let’s see if there’s a fit (insert non-HR-friendly, quintessential joke from The Office here).