Why The Future of Work Depends on Going “Back to the Future”

Offices were initially designed with workers in mind. Everyone had a private Oasis of focus and isolation in which they controlled how they would work. Don’t want to be bothered? You’d close the door. It was a place where you went to work, to avoid distraction and do your job. That you had space to quietly concentrate on the task at hand was the entire purpose of the office in the first place, it’s exactly what it had been designed for.

Offices were a sanctuary for workers to be productive, with access to the equipment needed to perform to the best of their abilities

Cost savings inspired a new way

Real estate costs were rising so offices got smaller. Eventually, disappearing altogether, replaced by more modern spaces and a culture of open-plan working. Some managers were granted their own offices, but the vast majority of people operated from within a room where everyone sat together and did their job. The problem this has caused has been obscured technological progress. Rather than obvious losses in productivity being spotted as this transition has occurred, computers and digitization have allowed companies to avoid the truth. Open-plan offices are terrible in every single…