The No-Door, No-Office Policy

When I first started working, one of my goals was to have an office with a door and, if I was really fortunate, a window. But, what I really wanted was a door. A door of my very own. It was a goal that I never managed to achieve while working full time, partially because I started working in the era of the dreaded cubicle.

Cubicles were actually invented (yes, someone put a lot of thought into this) in the 1960s. Before then, you either had an office (and were probably a man) or sat in a big, open room. Think of the office layout in the early episodes of Mad Men and you should get the idea. In that context, cubicles were a slight improvement over the bullpen office with a bunch of desks crammed into one large, windowless space. And at least with a cubicle, you had four partial walls to call your very own (not the same as four walls and a door), but it was something.

After almost 50 years, office designers are trying to eliminate the cubicle and any sense that you have some small measure of control over your office space. Welcome to the open-office movement where no one has an office. Heck, no one even has a permanent desk. As this article in Huffington Post relates, in the office of the future (and, for some, the present), you don’t even have a permanent place to hang your hat (or put your coat). Wow, what a great way to make employees feel even more disposable or interchangeable.

Luckily (for office workers everywhere), there is a backlash to the open-office movement. Also from HuffPo (as I fondly refer to it) is this article on making open offices a bit less open. Seems like a move in the right direction.

As for me, I currently work mostly out of my home, so now I finally have an office, with a door, and even a window. And as an added bonus, cats. If you have to work for a living, it doesn’t get much better than that.