Innovation

Tough day at the office

Sage has new offices, and a new way of working.

15 April 2019

When I started work at a newspaper in Johannesburg, I found a pile of phonebooks on my desk, a phone, and a company-issued ashtray, which should give you some idea of the time frame. Everything was still done on paper, and there was a pneumatic tube system running through the building. The desks were like islands, neatly lined up in equidistant rows. This gave the news editor a clear view of his staff, and he’d summon you with a grimace. Collaboration was frowned upon. Anyone in middle management had their own office, which we’d refer to as ‘mahogany row’.

This was the ‘open office’, which dates from, well, when people began working in them. But it was only really around 1900, in response to the Industrial Revolution, that people really began streaming into t he office to take care of all that paperwork that had been gradually piling up. This model saved money by jamming as many employees into the floor space, and, as many can attest, they’re actually not very nice places to work. They’re too noisy, and there’s no privacy, but, hey, who needs privacy anyway? You should be working. And with the need for all these offices, lifts were invented, and buildings became taller.

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