Company by Max Barry

Publisher's Synopsis

At Zephyr Holdings, no one has ever seen the CEO. The floors are numbered in reverse, the Mission Statement could mean almost anything, and the beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else, but appears to do no work. One of the sales reps uses relationship books as sales manuals, and another is on the warpath because somebody stole his doughnut. 

In other words, it’s a typical big company. Or at least, that’s what everyone thinks, until fresh-faced employee Jones—too new to understand you just don’t ask some questions—starts investigating. Soon Jones uncovers the company’s secret: the answer to everything, what Zephyr Holdings really does, and why every manager carries a copy of the Omega Management System. It plunges him into a maelstrom of love, loyalty, management, and corporate immorality—and whether he can get out again. Now that’s a good question. 

My Review of Company by Max Barry

Welcome to the anally warped corporate world of Zephyr Holdings in which every peculiarity from every office the world over is represented and agonised over. The stakes are high as employees are intent on climbing the corporate ladder by adding shareholder value at the expense of fellow employees.

Steve Jones starts his first day as a graduate at Zephyr Holdings working in the company's Training Sales Department as a Sales Assistant to one of the Sales Reps. As the name suggests, they sell training to clients in the form of courses, workshops and manuals. But Jones is in for his first surprise when he finds that the clients they sell to are other Zephyr Holdings departments.

So his first assumption that Zephyr Holdings' primary business was to sell training packages to other companies was wrong. Covering the embarrassment he feels from accepting a job with a company whose business he didn't even know he decides that he'd better find out pretty darn quick. The problem is it seems that no-one else at Zephyr really knows what it is the company does.

To the horror of his fellow Sales Assistants Jones does the unthinkable and begins questioning management and that just isn't the way things are done at Zephyr Holdings. He should be busy "value-adding", using "teamwork oriented policies" while accepting managements constant restructures in order to maximise profits. But he is on a mission that takes on greater importance the longer an answer isn't forthcoming and unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that could very well destabilize not only Zephyr Holdings but also the entire delicately balanced ideals around which all big businesses are slavishly based.

Zephyr Holdings is not your average company, but most accepting employees would never discover that fact. Jones proves to be more than your average employee and for that he is burdened with the knowledge that even the smallest decisions can have major consequences when trying to run a profitable organisation trying to increase shareholder value while retaining loyal employees.

Company is a bitingly satirical look at the plight of the office worker making light of the meaningless power-phrases that are so wantonly tossed around by corporate bigwigs and twisting them until they are exposed for the inherent flaws upon which they are based.

Even the building in which Zephyr is housed is set up differently, noticeable the moment you enter the elevators to find that the floor numbering system has been turned upside down. This means that floor 1 is on the top and floor 20 on the bottom. The idea is that the entire building is set up like a ranking system with the CEO on 1 and of course, the IT Department is on 19 because as one of the Sales Assistants explains to Jones, "some of them don't even wear suits". Boy did I laugh at that one until it dawned on me that I've worked in IT for 20-odd years, have never worn a suit and my floor is at the bottom of the building. What the?

From the start you are hit by the complete sense of irony with which the daily routine of Zephyr's jaded employees is presented. The story races from character to character as they are introduced and compared to the enthusiastic newness of Jones, the new starter. The snappy delivery of the dialogue accompanied by a growing outrageousness of situation is tinged with just a hint of a manic edge as Barry takes us right up to the precipice of all out farce before deciding whether to tip us over or not.

Ah yes, the humour ranges from eye-raising subtlety to out and out pointed as no part of the corporate low-fliers world is sacred. Arguments over parking spaces, coat-hooks and a stolen donut dominate, all while living in fear that they might somehow be noticed by Senior Management - and history suggests this wouldn't be a good thing.

If you've ever worked in an office and wondered about the motivation behind your company's latest inexplicable restructure, you will recognise much that goes on in Company. Noticed that your employee benefits continue to disappear? Max Barry's Company may well provide you with some insights into what the hell is going on around the beige walls of your cubicle. Then again maybe not, maybe you'll just laugh quietly until your realise with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that it all sounds scarily familiar. But when you get over that it's just plain good fun.