Reading this article has brought up a subject I’ve long thought about. Is a physical office structure still relevant in the wake of today’s technology improvements?
Normally I work in two locations: At a customer site, and at home. When I go to the office I’m frequently surprised by how little work can be accomplished. It seems like every few minutes someone is asking a question, asking for a status update on a project, or simply having a conversation within earshot. The compiled craziness drastically reduces my work output, and I assume it must do so for others in the office as well. You may say that this is not so for office with closed doors. I’d argue that today’s norm is an “open door policy”, which in effect, eliminates the one advantage of an office over a cubicle: Isolation. So, we all submit to the office chaos, it’s part of work life.
In one of my other jobs, working for the former Universal Imaging Corp, I was one of only two direct employees west of the Rocky Mountains. My shipping department was a UPS store, and my warehouse was my garage. While working for UIC I installed more imaging systems in the SF bay than I ever had before or have since. I was awarded a Salesperson of the Year award while operating under this structure. One other sales rep and I had equal sales numbers that year, but I was given the award because of the positive feedback my customers had given my company. My coworker, who was based at the company office, didn’t have a similar level of high customer satisfaction. Is it a coincidence that, when left to perform work uninterrupted, that work gets accomplished more quickly, and to a higher level of quality? Put another way, did I win that award simply because I wasn’t forced to reduce my work impact by being required to work at the office? Maybe my coworker was a superior employee in all respects, but was kneecapped by short sighted management policy…
I guess the larger question is, could we kill the office? In some ways, the office brings a level of team corroboration that cannot be equaled by conference calls. Personal interaction still trumps every other form of contact. There are other advantages of course, and many business types require access to supplies, tools etc that cannot be used at home. So in my opinion, both are needed. On the other hand, at what cost do we run “the office”?
I can imagine a day where all homes are built to include a personal office, where company employees meet once a week at a rented conference room, or a restaurant, to have that personal interaction. The rest of the time they could work at home. If I look at my experience, here’s the difference in what my employer gets for work output.
- Office day:
- Travel 1-2 hours
- Work 4 hours
- 1 Hour lunch
- Work 4 hours
- Travel 1-2 hours
- Home day
- Begin work when I’d normally travel (1-2 hours)
- Work 4 hours
- Eat a 15 minute lunch while working
- Work 4 hours
- Continue work until I’d normally arrive home (1-2 hours)
So, if we consider the additional work my exployer recieves from me, for the same pay, when I work at home, we have the 3 hour average travel time saved, plus 30-45 minutes for lunch, for a total of 3 and a half hours extra work in one day. This is a 33% increase in actual work hours! Now what do I receive in this deal? Well, I have zero driving-induced stress. I am closer to home for my family should a medical emergency arise, I don’t foot the gas bill for a commute or destroy a car in using it. I eat healthier, smaller meals. I get to say hi to my kids for a few minutes throughout the day. Most importantly, I can work in a location free from distraction, allowing me to deeply concentrate.
Obviously many industries require physical facilities, but there are a large number of businesses operating with an office, simply because, “That’s the way we always did it.” I posit that employee happiness, work output, and profitability can all be increased by reducing the demand for office attendance. Now on the other hand one might ask, “What if my employees simply don’t work while at home?” My answer to this is that if you don’t trust your employees to work for you, fire them and get some you can trust.
-Austin