20th Century Ideas We Need to Change - The Office

Introduction?

We’re nearly one quarter through the 21st century. Depending on your perspective, we’re either in the middle of or on the precipice of huge technological change. Genomics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Computing are just some of these leading edge technologies.?

Yet, in the midst of huge technological change we’re still wedded to the 20th century and even the 19th century in many of our social constructs - ideas that have been created and accepted by the people in a society.?

If we really want to make progress, then we need to change how we think about some of these constructs. So here’s the first of some 20th century ideas we need to change. Let’s start with the office.

The Office?

In the 20th century we went into the office, just as we did a factory, because that’s where the ‘tools’ that were required to do our work were kept e.g.

• Telephones
• Telexes
• Filing cabinets
• Computers (Remember the days when a desktop computer took up half the desktop)?
• Fax machines (still going in some places like a tribute to the ancient Gods)

Nowadays, those tools can fit into a small rucksack and people can work almost anywhere. Covid should have proved once and for all that trudging into an office five days a week was a waste of time. Yet, now we’re reverting back to that in stages with many firms settling currently on an arbitrary three days a week. Why are we still doing this?

The Benefits of Remote Working

The research available comes to the broad conclusion that employees like remote work (with a few notable exceptions) but managers don’t. Remote working

• Eliminates commuting time and cost.?
• Enables people to live further away from the city, which may be better for mental health, family life and financial reason
• Gives companies access to a far wider base of talent
• Gives people in remote locations a wider range of career opportunities without moving
• Allows people who need little direction to better focus on their work

The Benefits of ‘An’ Office

There are however advantages to having an office. The most cited are?

• Team bonding occurs better in a physical environment because human contact is a basic human need and it is therefore easier to create and ‘live the culture of an organisation?
• Young people work better when surrounded by other people especially more experienced colleagues
• Being in the same environment creates ‘serendipity’ which leads to innovation

I’m going out on a limb, but I think it’s fair to say that most people would acknowledge the different benefits of both remote and office working even if they had a strong opinion either way.?

The Rise of Remote Working and Hybrid Working

Remote working has became increasingly popular over the years even prior to COVID. Many new startups choose to start remotely from economic necessity but then never get around to actually having an office because they made remote working ‘work’. Most tend to meet physically in some location several times a year and often use some kind of office setting to do so. Organisations like Othership, We Work, and Regus provide solutions to make that possible.?

With most office workers having experienced the necessity of working at home due to COVID, people got a good taste of what remote working was like and many employees liked it. Some companies have really embraced remote working and carried on, letting their office space go altogether.?

However, while many larger companies embraced remote out of necessity, and some workers had worked some time remotely as part of their roles anyway, they seem less keen on it as a permanent arrangement.?

Hybrid working would appear to meet the needs of both parties but it’s the frequency of being the office that then becomes the issue. The more often someone needs to be in the office, then the nearer one needs to live. Once a month is feasible within a huge geographical area. One day a week narrows that down considerably. Three days a week is essentially the same as a normal commuter.?

‘An’ Office vs ‘The’ Office?

So why is this arbitrary three day model becoming the norm? Why not let individual teams sort out their own arrangements? I think the answer lies in the difference between ‘an’ office and ‘the’ office.?

Offices are no longer necessary to do actual tasks but, aside from social interaction, they convey status both for the company and senior executives. Company headquarters are a physical manifestation of the brand in their location e.g. City of London, New York, San Francisco and/or design e.g. Apple Park in Cupertino. They convey prestige to clients and to staff.?

Prestige is important to people who work in large organisations especially as one rises through the ranks. For the minion who traipses in a packed tube to sit at a hot desk, that appeal may have a limited shelf life but I can imagine that most senior executives were very keen to return.?

The corner office, an executive secretary to fend off distractions and one’s minions on hand within eyeshot is a far cry away from Zoomland; the home office and the normal distractions of home or an anonymous We Work office.?

The argument that stems from this is essentially a variation of the sunk cost fallacy - ‘we have these offices so we need to use them. It’s also worth noting that the commercial property market is hugely important to Western economies. The commercial property market in London was valued at ￡334bn so there’s a huge pressure from investors, governments etc not to change the business model of ‘the’ office.?

Where’s It All Going??

The trend to remote working had started long before the pandemic. Both the technology and working practices had developed sufficiently for that to be possible.During COVID in 2020, I thought, as a remote worker, that there would be a general rapid acceleration towards remote working, but that has not proved to be the case.?

I think there will be a reversion to the pre-Covid trend of more gradual change based on the following

• Freelancers and fractional employees will be increasingly remote or co-working space based
• Start ups will be similar with the move to ‘an’ office a much more thought out decision rather than a natural evolution
• Large companies will reshape the size and use of their office space as leases come up for renewal. ‘The’ office is likely to remain where there is a need for prestige and meeting space but hot desk space and time in the office may decrease if it’s commercially viable.??
• The freeing up of office space in will represent an opportunity for some companies to move from ‘an’ office to ‘the’ office at a lower price, but, yet again, this will be a more thought out decision based on actual business needs
• Hybrid working techniques will continue to become more developed and mature to maximise ‘in office’ and remote’ productivity within individual teams and functions
• Technology will continue to develop to improve the remote experience e.g. Apple Vision reducing the need for ‘unproductive’ office time

Final Thoughts?

In the 20th century, the office was the place where the ‘tools’ of work were kept so that’s where we went to do the work. Rethinking the office needs a mindset change from one of passive acceptance to careful consideration.?

The model for the 21st century needs to consider the office as ‘a’ tool to get the work done and that then prompts us to think about what the work is and how best we could do that work. The shape of the work then determines whether we need an office and if so, how best to optimise the use of that to improve business performance.?

Until Next Time

Pete