I have an office. So there it is.

I didn’t really want to move into an office, but once I left production I was told “Look, you are management and you are going to have conversations that other people shouldn’t listen in on.” Whatever. So I packed up my stuff and migrated into my solitary confinement space.

I was no longer a resident in a open work space. I was an office-dweller.

Little Green Coworkers

So what did I learn about having an office? I guess it is quieter. And I have walls to put stuff on. But what I really learned was that people are envious. There seems to be something about full-height walls and a door that is like being knighted. As if I were somehow special now. I certainly didn’t see it that way.

And when other people learned I had an office they always quickly asked the same question: “Do you have a window?”

Kiss My Glass

As if the entire “oh you have a door” thing were not enough I came to learn that windows are, for some reason, coveted by the common, non-officed gentry. Seriously. I was stunned by how quickly people complained when they were placed in an office without a window. And when an office with a window became available? It was a virtual rush for a land grab to see who got the window seat.

Why on earth would a window be an object of envy?

I’ll tell you why: The traditional concept of work is such that the upper class has horded these office in yet another attempt to segregate themselves from the common laborers. They are management so they need a door. They are executives so they have earned, no they simply deserve a view. As for the rest of the staff? Classical management models just push them into common areas similar to paddocks and let them live their lives as workplace livestock.

A Better Way

So we should all take a moment to not only recognize, but reject this idiocy. Why can’t everyone have a window? Do we really need offices? Why does the lowest level project manager need to be separated from the production and support teams? Reed Hastings, Richard Branson, and many other CEOs of multi-billion dollar firms seem to do just fine without an office. Yet AEC and other firms feel that an entry-level EIT requires a door and a window.

There have been plenty of studies that promote the benefits of more open office schemes with plenty of natural light and a limit on doors. As for management, there are plenty of benefits to bringing the leaders closer to where the work is happening.

Whatever you decide and however you approach the issue there is one thing that is clear, this culture of idolizing a tiny room with a door and a hole in the wall needs to stop because it really is just a pain …