I walk in a commercial district where there are not only office furniture stores, but probably small offices within those stores. I worked in an office for over 30 years as an accountant. The place I worked in for the longest period of time was an open concept with many desks in one large room with no partitions dividing them. We called it the fishbowl. Everyone could overhear your conversations. If you needed someone’s help at an adjoining desk, it was helpful. However, in my opinion, privacy concerns far outweighed the convenience factor. Because of the noise in the room, there was a white noise machine to drown out distractions. During one reorganization, the desks were shuffled around and mine got placed right under an air conditioning vent. I wore thermal underwear year-round, even in the heat of the summer. One guy had the habit of taking off his shoes while sitting at his desk — which left him wide open for pranks. Someone managed to take his shoes, so when the boss called him into his office, he had to go in his stocking feet. I have worked in rooms with a fewer number of desks and also a private office which were more efficient. Ever wonder how the whole idea of having an office got started? Let’s find out.
History
According to Hanna Mansson’s January 15, 2020 article “The History of the Office: Office Trends through the Centuries” at hubblehq.com, not content with inventing roads, concrete, aqueducts, newspapers, sewers and sanitation for us, the Romans also left us the legacy of the office. Ancient Rome had its very own business district, and with such a vast empire to control, order and organization were key.
At the heart of each Roman town lay its forum — a large square, bounded by shops, offices and government offices. It’s the Roman Latin “officium” term, loosely meaning “bureau,” that gives us the word we use today.
According to Wikipedia, the Notitia Dignitatum — Latin for “The List of Offices” — gives us uniquely detailed information, stemming from the very imperial chanceries, on the composition of the officia of many of the leading court, provincial, military and certain other officials of the two Roman empires c. AD 400. While the details vary somewhat according to rank, in general the leading staff would be about as follows — English descriptions and other modern "equivalents" are approximate:
- Princeps officii was the chief of staff, permanent secretary or chef de cabinet.
- Cornicularius was a military title, for an administrative deputy of various generals, etc.
- Adjutor — literally "helper" — seems to have been the chief general assistant, or adjutant.
- Commentariensis was the keeper of "commentaries," an official diary.
- Ab actis was the keeper of records, the archivist.
- Numerarius or "accountant" seems to have been the receiver of taxes.
- Subadiuva or "under-helper" seems to have been a general assistant.
- Cura epistolarum was the curator of correspondence.
- Regerendarius may have been a registrar.
- Exceptor seems to have been a secretary.
- Singularius has been called a notary, but the word can also refer to a bodyguard.
The relatively elaborate Roman bureaucracy would not be equaled for centuries in the West after the fall of Rome — even partially reverting to illiteracy — while the East preserved a more sophisticated administrative culture, both under Byzantium and under Islam.
Offices in classical antiquity were often part of a palace complex or a large temple. There was usually a room where scrolls were kept and scribes did their work. Ancient texts mentioning the work of scribes allude to the existence of such "offices." These rooms are sometimes called "libraries" by some archaeologists and the general press because one often associates scrolls with literature. In fact, they were true offices since the scrolls were meant for record-keeping and other management functions such as treaties and edicts — and not for writing or keeping poetry or other works of fiction.
Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages from 1000 to 1300 saw the rise of the medieval chancery, which was usually the place where most government letters were written and where laws were copied in the administration of a kingdom. The rooms of the chancery often had walls full of pigeonholes, constructed to hold rolled up pieces of parchment for safekeeping or ready reference, a precursor to the bookshelf. The introduction of printing during the Renaissance did not change these early government offices much.
Medieval illustrations, such as paintings or tapestries, often show people in their private offices handling record-keeping books or writing on scrolls of parchment. All kinds of writings seemed to be mixed in these early forms of offices. Before the invention of the printing press and its distribution, there was often a very thin line between a private office and a private library since books were read or written in the same space at the same desk or table, and general accounting and personal or private letters were also done there.
It was during the 13th century that the English form of the word first appeared when referring to a position involving duties (ex. the office of the ...). Geoffrey Chaucer appears to have first used the word in 1395 to mean a place where business is transacted in “The Canterbury Tales.”
As mercantilism became the dominant economic theory of the Renaissance, merchants tended to conduct their business in the same buildings, which might include retail sales, warehousing and clerical work. During the 15th century, population density in many cities reached the point where stand-alone buildings were used by merchants to conduct their business, and there was a developing distinction among church, government/military and commerce uses for buildings.
18th and 19th centuries
According to Mansson’s article, the 18th century sees the construction of two of the first dedicated office buildings in Britain. The Old Admiralty Office — now known as the Ripley Building after its architect Thomas Ripley — was built in 1726. The first purpose-built office building in Great Britain, this commanding U-shaped structure in Whitehall still impresses. Built for the Royal Navy, it contained the Admiralty board room which is still used by the Admiralty, state rooms, offices and apartments for the Lords of the Admiralty. It’s now occupied by the Department for International Development.
1729 saw the opening of the country’s second purpose-built office building, which was every bit as imposing as the first. On Leadenhall Street, it housed the East India Company, which needed a headquarters for thousands of staff employed to handle the large and complex bureaucracy it encountered in its long-distance trading with India and Asia.
Author Charles Lamb who worked as a clerk at the East India Company has given us an idea of what office life was like there through his diaries – and it bears some remarkable similarities to office life today.
Long hours – “On Friday I was at office from 10 in the morning to 11 at night – last night til 9.”
Employers would grant perks like holidays and bonuses, only to take them away when times got hard. Employees would play practical jokes and pretend to work when actually reading the newspaper – there was a definite sense of camaraderie and friendships were made. However, he also wrote, “You don’t know how wearisome it is to breathe the air of four pent walls without relief day after day.”
He leaves us a lot of evidence of work-related stress, tales of depressed co-workers, drudgery – even suicide.
According to Wikipedia, as the Industrial Revolution intensified in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industries of banking, rail, insurance, retail, petroleum and telegraphy dramatically grew in size and complexity. To transact business, an increasing large number of clerks were needed to handle order-processing, accounting and document-filing, with increasingly specialized office space required to house these activities. Most of the desks of the era were top heavy with paper storage bins extending above the desk-work area, giving the appearance of a cubicle and offering the workers some degree of privacy.
The relatively high price of land in the central core of cities led to the first multistory buildings, which were limited to about 10 stories until the use of iron and steel allowed for higher structures. The first purpose-built office block was the Brunswick Building, built in Liverpool in 1841. The invention of the safety elevator in 1852 by Elisha Otis saw the rapid escalation upward of buildings. By the end of the 19th century, larger office buildings frequently contained large glass atriums to allow light into the complex and improve air circulation.
20th century
In 1906, Sears opened its catalog plant and the 3 million-square-foot Sears Merchandise Building Tower in Chicago’s West Side, at the time the largest building in the world. The building was the anchor of what would become the massive 40-acre Sears, Roebuck and Co. complex of offices, laboratories and mail-order operations at Homan Avenue and Arthington Street. The complex served as corporate headquarters until 1973 when the Sears Tower was completed and served as the base of the mail-order catalog business until 1993.
According to Mansson’s article, love it or hate it, we can thank architect Frank Lloyd Wright for introducing the open plan office space to the world – a layout that has largely dominated our office history.
With his Larkin Administration Building — which opened in New York in 1906 — Wright envisaged an office like an open plan factory with few walls.
According to Wikipedia, the time and motion study, pioneered in manufacturing by F. W. Taylor — and later applied to the office environment by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth — led to the idea that managers needed to play an active role in directing the work of subordinates in order to increase the efficiency of the workplace. F.W. Taylor advocated the use of large, open floor plans, and desks that faced supervisors. As a result, in 1915, the Equitable Life Insurance Co. in New York City introduced the “Modern Efficiency Desk” with a flat top and drawers below, designed to allow managers an easy view of the workers. This led to a demand for a large square footages per floor in buildings and a return to the open spaces that were seen in pre–industrial revolution buildings.
According to Mansson’s article, the office in the early 20th century was incredibly regimented, with workers sat at endless rows of desks and managers in surrounding offices looking in. Air conditioning and fluorescent lighting meant that new high rise buildings had little need for natural light and ventilation, and would increasingly cut workers off entirely from the outside world. The results could be dehumanizing and depressing.
The regimented approach was thrown out the window in Europe in the 1960s with the development of Bürolandschaft — office landscaping. Here staff would sit in more organic patterns, loosely dividing areas with the use of plants and furniture, to allow easier interaction between teams.
According to Wikipedia, by the midpoint of the 20th century, it became apparent that an efficient office required discretion in the control of privacy, which is needed to combat tedium linked to poor productivity, and to encourage creativity. In 1964, the Herman Miller office equipment company engaged Robert Propst, a prolific industrial designer, who came up with the concept of the Action Office.
According to Mansson’s article, the Action Office line was one of the first modular office furniture collections, still in use today. It introduced the concept of flexible, semi-enclosed workspaces. It allowed office spaces to be personalized and frequently modified to suit the needs of the company and its workers. It eventually evolved into the cubicle office furniture system.
In the 1980s, cheap and effective modular walls led to a sea of cubicles springing up in offices all over the globe. Cubicles arrived as economic growth created a swell in the number of middle managers. These were workers too important to be given just a desk, but not important enough to be given their own office or window seat.
Japanese offices
According to Wikipedia, Japanese businesses have set themselves apart from their American counterparts by implementing different techniques in the way they handle business. The Japanese office layout improves work productivity, harmony in the office and holds every employee accountable for the work they produce. The type of office layout used in Japan is called an open plan and relies on ergonomics to help make employees as productive as possible. The Japanese open office layout allows them to use an organizational structure known as the horizontal structure. In the typical Japanese office, there are no walls dividing desks, no cubicles and no individual offices. Also, they can implement policies using the ringi-sho consensus.
“Ringisho” is the concept of submitting proposals and making decisions off those ideas. By unifying everyone together in the Japanese office, it helps to make better-informed decisions on policies of the company that all managers and employees have input on. The idea behind this is to get ahold of various thinking individuals to see if there is a good way in writing their policies that come to benefit the company better. Richard Lewis, author of “When Cultures Collide,” states “Suggestions, ideas and inventions make their way up the company hierarchy by a process of collecting signatures among workers and middle managers. Many people are involved. Top executives take the final step in ratifying items that have won sufficient approval.” With this system in place changes to policies are only passed if there is an overall consensus to pass it. Allowing each group to have a say on which policies should be implemented improves overall job satisfaction and harmony throughout the office.
In order to get group members to work effectively in the open office floor plan, the use of island-style desks are used. The most dominant feature of the Japanese island-style office layout is that each group forms an island. Kageyu Noro, Goroh Fujimaki & Shinsuke Kishi researchers of ergonomics in the work place — stated, “Japanese offices have traditionally adhered to island layouts because these reflect the Japanese style of teamwork and top-down style of management.” The group leader will then sit at the prominent position and ensure productivity.
The group leader will assign a task to the group, and each member of the group then receives their individual task to complete. Island-style seating also gives the group the benefit of being able to speak to one another at any time and ask for help, if needed. Being in such close proximity to one another in the office gives another advantage to the supervisor in that he can call an uchi-awase — an informal meeting in order to get an important message across — and also allows all members of the team to be creative in the office. “The open office layout allows for this because there are hardly any independent rooms or enclosures. If the supervisor stands at his desk, he can glance at his associates and easily call them over,” according to Durlabhji, Subhash, Norton E. Marks and Scott Roach, authors of “Japanese Business: Cultural Perspective.” Once all individual tasks are complete, the group then combines each person's work and the project is the put together as a whole and returned to the supervisor. The work is viewed as a team effort and each member of the group receives equal credit for being part of a team completing the goal assigned. The group itself holds each member accountable for ensuring that the work is getting done, and that no one individual is doing more work than another. Another motivating factor is that the group's boss is also seated at the same desk, and the effect that this has on the individuals is that they must work hard just like the boss. The role of having an open layout with island-type seating allows the office to be structured so the employees are put together as teams.
The type of organizational structure found within the Japanese office is known as a horizontal structure. According to Dr. Andrew Ghillyer, author of “Management Now,” “Horizontal structure is an organization structure consisting of two groups: the first composed of senior management responsible for strategic decisions and policies and the second composed of empowered employees working together in different process teams — also known as a team structure.” The benefit of using this type of structure is that hierarchy is flattened to reduce supervision; teams are able to self-manage; team performance — not just the individual is rewarded; and training is highly emphasized among all employees. With the heightened sense of empowerment and responsibility, workers are motivated to complete objectives in a timely manner. Having the office structured horizontally allows for the easy communication of introducing new policies and ideas amongst the groups.
The way Japanese offices are structured allows them to be more efficient when conducting business. The efficiency at which they operate has been noticed by such companies General Motors, Ford, Motorola and Chrysler. They continue to look for other ways to be more efficient and productive with the office layout and employee productivity.
Modern offices
According to Mansson’s article, co-working spaces look set to remain at the heart of office design for some time, simply because they are performing so well – a recent report from the Harvard Business Review shows that co-workers are thriving in these spaces, they are cheaper for companies to set up, and demand looks set to grow as the number of freelance workers continues to rise.
According to Caitlin Bishop’s Nov. 21, 2019 article “What is hot-desking and what are the benefits?” at wework.com, the benefits of hot-desking run deeper than convenience and flexibility, with intangibles like community and creativity further driving success. Hot-desking is an organizational workspace system in which desks are used by different people at different times, on an ad hoc basis. Typically, the aim is to maximize space efficiency and lessen real estate risk by reducing redundant office space. Hot desks can be implemented in private offices as well as co-working spaces. The flexibility associated with hot-desking is often linked to an increase in employee innovation, while the social aspect is cited as a way to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration. More than a trend, hot-desking allows people to work when and where they want, and is a tool used by self-employed individuals and established companies to stay productive and connected, wherever their work takes them.
According to Mansson’s article, as more and more freelancers find working from home isolating, offices will seek to create social, professional and creative spaces for increasingly mobile and flexible staff. An increase in worktivity areas, designed for socializing, play, exercise and eating, will seek to keep workers happier and healthier than they would be at home. Just take a look at Google’s new Googleplex, with its indoor cycling and running tracks to get an idea of what’s in store.
Coolest Offices
Bark
Columbus, Ohio
According to Kevin J. Ryan’s article “Here They Are: The World’s 10 Most Beautiful Offices of 2019” in Inc., pet supply company Bark dubs its headquarters "the world's most dog-friendly office," and makes a good case for that title. About 50 canines roam the space each day. Desks are placed next to lounge seats made of wipeable fabric so dogs and humans can sit side-by-side, and an outdoor dog run offers a place to exercise. Bark and architecture firm NBBJ decided to install floors made of sealed concrete, rubber and woven vinyl, so accidents can be easily cleaned. Cubbies offer employees a place to lounge with their pups — while also breaking up the office so the excitable companions aren't always in one another's sight lines.
Digital Luxury Group
Geneva, Switzerland
There's no reception area at the offices of digital marketing company DLG, which were designed to not feel like an office at all. Instead, interior design firm Bloomint Design focused on flexibility, creating a series of spaces that encourage relaxation as much as they do concentration. Modern furniture and minimal lines make for an elegant interior while floating lights in the shape of clouds add softness. A variety of meeting rooms provide separate areas for teams to get together.
Gusto
San Francisco, California
Before sitting unoccupied for decades, this warehouse on San Francisco's Pier 70 was used to construct and repair ships from the 19th century through World War II. It's now the home of Gusto, a company that makes cloud-based HR software for small businesses. When the startup moved into the building last year, it collaborated with architecture firm Gensler to create a design that left many of the industrial elements intact, including the lifts and cranes. Gusto pays homage to its clients within the cavernous space. Meeting rooms are named after theoretical small businesses (Donut Factory, Bait & Tackle) and a mural wall — painted by employees — includes illustrations of everything from baristas to veterinarians. An added perk: The floors are heated to keep workers warm on cold Bay Area days.
JoyTunes
Tel Aviv, Israel
Music literally takes center stage at the headquarters for JoyTunes, which makes a mobile app that teaches piano playing. A wooden stage for performances, jam sessions and video shoots sits directly under a central skylight, creating a natural spotlight for performers. Architecture and interior design firm Roy David Studio chose what founder Roy David calls an "open-edge design," dividing the office into sections using custom-made shelving that creates a minimalist, slightly unfinished look. Each workstation includes an adjustable light fixture that hangs far below the 18-foot ceilings, adding to the feeling of confined, private spaces within the open-plan, industrial setting. Plants and lighter wood for tables and conference rooms lend a natural look to the office, while Persian-style rugs and the furniture's soft colors add a warm, residential vibe.
Mindvalley
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Inspired by the stained glass in Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, Spain, the offices of personal growth education company Mindvalley use natural light to produce a kaleidoscopic effect of "colored shadows," painting the space in colorful hues as the sun moves through the sky. Architecture and interior design firm Ideaworkshop increased usable space by more than 30 percent by building split-level mezzanine platforms. The jungle-gym-like steel and glass structures lend a sense of playfulness to the space while also creating more privacy for employees. Wellness facilities include an in-office gym, hypnotherapy rooms and bed pods for "power naps." More than 800 plants help bring the office to life and reduce ambient noise.
Slack San Francisco, California
Think of Slack's headquarters as an office version of planet Earth. Each floor of the business software company's office is modeled after a different region of the Pacific Crest Trail, which extends from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest and includes deserts, forests and mountain summits. The lobby level is a base camp of sorts, where employees can huddle up or meditate in tentlike structures before starting their ascent. Studio O+A drew design inspiration from the fact that Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is an avid outdoorsman who goes off the grid on a hike each year. Employees are encouraged to step away from their desks and explore the space as if it were wilderness. Up on the ninth floor, glass panels change colors when viewed from different angles, much like light hitting cracks in a glacier.
Trend Micro Cairo, Egypt
Not many businesses design their space to be part office, part "cultural experience." That's the vibe at cybersecurity company Trend Micro's Cairo office, where the amount of history rivals that in some museums. A former university theater that took up three floors, the office pays homage to ancient Egypt in everything from the lighting to the furniture. Architecture and design studio Dalia Sadany Dezines drew upon research from an accredited Egyptologist and cybersecurity professional to come up with a design that connects the past to the present. One floor in the office even contains a small cybersecurity museum. Ancient writings carved into marble remind workers of how information was preserved 5,000 years ago, while artifacts in nearly every corner make for a truly inspiring work environment.
Vital Proteins Chicago, Illinois
Though it's located in Chicago's West Loop, the office of collagen-supplement maker Vital Proteins has a distinctly California vibe. That, of course, is by design: Its beachwood, whitewashed brick and light-blue-and-gray color scheme are meant to break up those long Windy City winters. The space, which is the result of a collaboration with design firm SCB, wasn't always so sunny — it used to be a chicken processing plant. When it's not being used to host all-hands meetings, the large staircase in the middle of the space serves as a breakout area for small meetings or individual work. In a cafe underneath the stairs, an in-house barista serves lattes, smoothies and collagen-infused coffee. Upstairs, employees tinker with recipes for new products in an innovation lab.
WhiteBalance New Delhi, India
Creative agency WhiteBalance followed a simple rule for the design of its headquarters: one space with no visual obstructions. Removing partitions in the former pharmaceutical warehouse created a large hall that's used for meetings, video shoots and events. The office also houses private workspaces including an editing suite with a separate sleeping nook for video team members working late nights. Design firm Studio Bipolar chose a modern, industrial aesthetic for the office and a color palette of white with metal accents. Unique finishes include a light installation of scrap pipes, antique brass wall fans and a fully functioning antique rotary phone. Fifteen-foot-high brick arched windows provide a lot of natural light.
The Wing New York
The Wing's office is the rarest of breeds: An entire Manhattan building dedicated to one company. The operator of women's co-working spaces occupies all four floors of an East Village space that was constructed as a health care facility in 1854 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The startup designed the space itself using a color palette that matched that of the original tile found on the ground level and first floor. The office incorporates many of the elements found in the Wing's co-working spaces. Orb lights hang from high ceilings, and furniture is ergonomically designed for women. Conference rooms are named after famous women in history, literature and pop culture from Ms. Pac-Man to Nettie and Celie from “The Color Purple.”
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