I recently read an article from Aleks Krotoski titled, It's Time To Accept That We Don't Need To Return To The Office, and while I think this discussion is one that necessarily involves a lot of complex and layered considerations that may be difficult or impossible to adequately quantify in order to arrive at an objectively informed position worth standing firm on--I did find myself agreeing in broad terms with Krotoski's thesis.
Here are a few salient quotes that sum up the overall point of the article:
We’ve had to learn how to use a photocopier again, we’ve rediscovered the ‘delights’ of commuting, and frankly we’ve had to decide if we have the stomach to return to the office.
Personally, I can’t stand the office. There are too many people wanting to talk about things that distract me from getting more pressing things done. And yet, for the sake of a misplaced nostalgia that ignores the terrible lighting, the recycled air, the eyeballs over your shoulder and the productivity-destroying open-plan setup, many of us have been compelled to return.
What we found there, amid the husks of deserted snacks left behind in March 2020, was a few moments of novelty and a quick return to a grind that eradicated our autonomy and placed us in the cage again. We don’t need to do that. There are a few precious months in which we are feeling our way around again. It’s now that we can do something new. Must we have an office Christmas party? Or can we just give the people who want to participate a login to a live-streamed Zoom party?
...[a] ritual obeisance to a wholly anachronistic and dogmatic matrix, woven together out of the onerous and repetitive obligations that chip away at our spirits each day as soon as the morning alarm slaps us out of our slumber...
I would first like to point out that massive transitions in how humans dedicate themselves to organized economic production are not anything new. As a matter of fact, the entire notion of the 9:00a - 5:00p office shift work is itself a rather recent development. As recently as 1970, a majority of the world's population worked in agriculture--and at the turn of the 20th century, that proportion was nearly three-quarters! 1
Krotoski expressed what now seem like broadly shared personal disdains for traditional office work, while admitting to a fleeting few moments of novelty as coworkers see one another in-person after months of COVID-19 isolation, shared experiences and bonding over figuring out how to use the forgotten office machines. It’s chased to its inevitable thesis statement, and it is asked plainly—why exactly are we still doing this?
The recent past has proven that a functioning and significant portion of office jobs (along with several other areas of work) can effectively be accomplished from home. If we stopped to consider all of the supporting and tangential activities and resources we each contribute each day towards propping up the society-acceptable life and times of traditional office work, we would immediately recognize how absurd these performative gestures are; These traditions we follow, a sometimes ritual obeisance to a wholly anachronistic and dogmatic matrix, are woven together out of the onerous and repetitive obligations that chip away at our spirits each day as soon as the morning alarm slaps us out of our slumber, as well as a thousand little unconscious behaviors, habits, cultural and class distinctions, shared traditions, interpersonal standards, and unconscious tics.
Some of these memetic traits are superficial while others can be useful, even crucial to our own well-being even though they are all ultimately committed toward the greater designs of the Organization. It should be stated up front then, that a pragmatic reading of what the next stage of contemporary office labor might look like should generally feature increasing downward pressure on the least functional of these practices while reinforcing the survival of generally useful ones.
So what form does the human equivalent to traditional office work’s neanderthal ultimately take? I would argue that several of the things Krotoski cites are easily diminished or eliminated entirely—things like a daily commute, rigidly fixed schedules, and open office plans. There are going to be some scenarios where in-person collaborative experiences are still critical, but I would wager these are unlikely to be daily, or even weekly events.
If traditional office work contracts by some significant amount—let’s say half—then one of the natural results of that should be a corresponding contraction of the need for office space. Imagine what we could do as a society if for every one office or cubicle, there was one that could be permanently eliminated. Office buildings and their supporting infrastructure can be reduced by half, across the board. In their place could be things like affordable multi-family housing, green space, expanded public transportation, libraries, cultural and arts spaces, urban gardens, and community squares.
It isn’t all a panacea, of course. I could easily continue at length with a similar number of caveats, cons, and downsides to eschewing the traditional office framework. Maybe some other time, but in my personal consideration they don't do much to affect my own opinion--it's time we moved past these old paradigms and learned to embrace the benefits of our interconnected world, even though we are still grappling with many of its other consequences.
If you're still reading this, thanks for taking the time to share in my wandering inner monologue!
I'd love to consider other opinions, and I always welcome anything that might expand my own understanding. Please leave a comment!
1: The World's Agricultural Labour Force 1800-1970
~ S. Davis
Give me a fast ship, for I intend to go a long way...
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