The Office

A PLACE OF WORK

The office is really just a modern day version of a factory - a cacophony of clattering keys & swishing of mice, with rows of workers busily churning out endless digital iterations of work from computers where once in their place stood looms spinning reels of material and furnaces spewing steel.

We haven't come all that far from the industrial revolution in terms of how we work. There's still the clock in/out format of an 8 hour day over 5 days a week. We still have the need to travel to and from a set place of employment and hierarchy of overseers to ensure the virtual cogs keep on turning.

We have mobile technology to work with including many forms of communication, so why are we still following this outdated Victorian work model? 

There have been many attempts to 'jazz up' the workplace by adding all kinds of 'fun', colourful, quirky props and gimmicks that are supposed to make the chore of going in to a box and sitting in rows of desks alongside people we barely know, more bearable. Why are we essentially spending increasingly more time with strangers, than with our real friends or loved ones? 

Work Isn't Working

The modern office has many flaws. Gone are the days of doors. Personal offices, if they are still used, are exclusively the places for the top exec to reside in. Everyone else is out on the 'shop floor', where they are more visible and readily available for interactions. 

This means extroverted sales people can mix with introverted creatives and anyone can approach whoever they please to get what they 'want'. Yet, loud pushy sales people are arguably not going to be a benefit to the quieter creative types and therefore dealing with a barrage of requests can distract us from the task of actually doing the work. 

There are clear preferences for Myers Briggs introverted personality types to have solitude and arguably, there have been many good books and cases brought to the attention of office environment architects that highlight the problem of having such open-plan spaces. It's been shown how in-effective these places can be for the many introverted thinkers who require quite solitude to conceive or creative new ideas. I look forward to the day when the work revolution finally comes.