Are they brave or mad? Office workers go naked to boost team spirit



A group of office staff have discovered they work better together when they are NAKED.



Workers at design and marketing company onebestway in Newcastle upon Tyne stripped off at the encouragement of their boss, who thought the move would boost business.



The ailing company had seen six redundancies since the start of the credit crunch when business psychologist David Taylor was brought in to boost team spirit.

In the buff: The workers at onebestway took a week to steel their nerves for Naked Friday



Not ashamed: Sam Jackson said she felt 'totally comfortable'



The event, dubbed Naked Friday, was deemed a huge success and is even credited with turning around the firm’s fortunes.



Front-of-house manager Sam Jackson, 23, told The Sun: ‘It was brilliant. Now that we’ve seen each other naked, there are no barriers.



‘We weren’t put under any pressure. If we wanted to come in clothed or in our underwear, we could. But I love my body and I wasn’t ashamed.’



During the week leading up to the strip-off, the workers were encouraged to photocopy parts of their bodies to make them more confident about themselves.



A nude model was also brought in for the workers to sketch and talk to.



Sam added: ‘It took a week of David being in the office for us to build up courage. The first few steps were very nerve-wracking, but once I got to my desk and got used to it, I felt totally comfortable.



‘It was emotional but we found we were much more able to talk to each other honestly – and have been since. The company has improved massively.’

Managing Director Mike Owen, 40, said: 'We're either brave or mad. But I did tell everyone they didn't have to do it -only if it felt right.'

The experiment in April was filmed for a one-off TV show Naked Office, which will be screened on Virgin1 on July 9.



