Before the eighteenth century most people who were not in the church or the army or navy lived or worked in local communities, many on or in connection with the land. Then as agriculture was industrialised as a part of the agricultural revolution many people moved to cities – see this Wikipedia entry Rural Flight which statesThe onset of the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the late 19th century removed many of these checks [on moving to cities]. As food supplies increased and stabilized and industrialized centres arose, cities began to support larger populations, sparking the start of rural flight on a massive scale. The United Kingdom went from having 20% of the population living in urban areas in 1800 to more than 70% by 1925.
Around the same time in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came the industrial revolution. Another Wikipedia article on the Office comments As the Industrial Revolution intensified in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industries of banking, rail, insurance, retail, petroleum, and telegraphy grew dramatically, requiring many clerks, and as a result more office space was assigned to house their activities.
By the early twentieth century many workers were employed in large offices often in cities, many commuting to and from their homes in the suburbs or further afield using ever improving road and rail transport links. This article suggests that in 2005 There are over 10 million office workers in the UK. They work in over 200 million square metres of office space representing a capital investment of more than £120 billion.
Then came the computer revolution in offices – see this BBC article How the computer changed the office forever which says The first office computers didn't come in the 1970s and 1980s. They came at least 20 years earlier in the 1950s, and not from whizzy California, but from frumpy Hammersmith. ….It was a British tea shop and catering chain that developed the first computer for business use…..– Lyons. By contrast Today the computer is the office. Its dominant metaphor is taken from office work - it's got a desktop, files, folders, documents, a litterbin. It all seems to have happened so fast.
We are now part of the communication revolutionwhich has in fact been going on perhaps since the invention of the printing press in 1440 but has accelerated exponentially in the last few decades. See this article which suggests One thousand years from now, the only two things that will be remembered in the history of the time period we are living right now will be the first lunar landing of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 and the development of real-time communications instantly connecting every human on earth with every other human on earth.
Even, before the current challenges flexible working had altered the pattern of office life – see this Regus research The Workplace Revolution – a picture of flexible working which reports In fact, over 50% of workers now report that they work outside the main office 2.5 days a week or more.
My son was telling me that a large US publishing house he is doing some consultancy work for started out 10 years ago with all of its employees working remotely – so in that sense they have not been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
I suggest as we look forward positively to professional business after the current global crisis that a fifth mobile working revolutionwill take place as working at home as an alternative to the office becomes cemented in our work patterns. Why pay for expensive office space when many professionals will be happier and more productive working for some (not all) their time at home?
See this Guardian article Covid-19 could cause permanent shift towards home working commenting Covid-19 could permanently shift working patterns as companies forced to embrace remote working by the pandemic find that their employees do not want to return to the office once the closures are lifted.
I suggest that we will need to recognise and plan for this ongoing fifth revolution in our professional life. Here are some great quotes about the need to embrace this sort of change.
“There is nothing wrong with change...if it is in the right direction.”—Winston Churchill
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”— the Japanese scholar Kakuzō Okakura in The Book of Tea
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”—Henry Ford
“Change is inevitable. Change is constant.”—Benjamin Disraeli
“Change before you have to.”—Jack Welch
Around the same time in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came the industrial revolution. Another Wikipedia article on the Office comments As the Industrial Revolution intensified in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industries of banking, rail, insurance, retail, petroleum, and telegraphy grew dramatically, requiring many clerks, and as a result more office space was assigned to house their activities.
By the early twentieth century many workers were employed in large offices often in cities, many commuting to and from their homes in the suburbs or further afield using ever improving road and rail transport links. This article suggests that in 2005 There are over 10 million office workers in the UK. They work in over 200 million square metres of office space representing a capital investment of more than £120 billion.
Then came the computer revolution in offices – see this BBC article How the computer changed the office forever which says The first office computers didn't come in the 1970s and 1980s. They came at least 20 years earlier in the 1950s, and not from whizzy California, but from frumpy Hammersmith. ….It was a British tea shop and catering chain that developed the first computer for business use…..– Lyons. By contrast Today the computer is the office. Its dominant metaphor is taken from office work - it's got a desktop, files, folders, documents, a litterbin. It all seems to have happened so fast.
We are now part of the communication revolutionwhich has in fact been going on perhaps since the invention of the printing press in 1440 but has accelerated exponentially in the last few decades. See this article which suggests One thousand years from now, the only two things that will be remembered in the history of the time period we are living right now will be the first lunar landing of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 and the development of real-time communications instantly connecting every human on earth with every other human on earth.
Even, before the current challenges flexible working had altered the pattern of office life – see this Regus research The Workplace Revolution – a picture of flexible working which reports In fact, over 50% of workers now report that they work outside the main office 2.5 days a week or more.
My son was telling me that a large US publishing house he is doing some consultancy work for started out 10 years ago with all of its employees working remotely – so in that sense they have not been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
I suggest as we look forward positively to professional business after the current global crisis that a fifth mobile working revolutionwill take place as working at home as an alternative to the office becomes cemented in our work patterns. Why pay for expensive office space when many professionals will be happier and more productive working for some (not all) their time at home?
See this Guardian article Covid-19 could cause permanent shift towards home working commenting Covid-19 could permanently shift working patterns as companies forced to embrace remote working by the pandemic find that their employees do not want to return to the office once the closures are lifted.
I suggest that we will need to recognise and plan for this ongoing fifth revolution in our professional life. Here are some great quotes about the need to embrace this sort of change.
“There is nothing wrong with change...if it is in the right direction.”—Winston Churchill
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”— the Japanese scholar Kakuzō Okakura in The Book of Tea
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”—Henry Ford
“Change is inevitable. Change is constant.”—Benjamin Disraeli
“Change before you have to.”—Jack Welch
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