Remote work has always been around. For millennia, there have been some among us who herd domesticated animals from grazing fields to market. Likewise, preachers traversed byways spreading the Gospel long before cathedrals rose from our cities. Ancient hunters followed the expansive migration patterns of their intended prey, living nomadic lives along the way. Most of human existence was not spent within the confines of the office. Dictionaries define the space “a room, set of rooms or building used as a place for commercial, professional or bureaucratic work.” The latter is especially salient. As the British Empire expanded and prospered in the 18th century, dedicated suites to assemble necessary bureaucrats began to be constructed in London to house the hordes of clerks and administrators managing the paperwork and record-keeping for the far-flung realm.
The arrangement caught on and became the global standard. Today, many if — not most — of us find ourselves toiling shoulder-to-shoulder with others in these shared rooms. The recent interventions related to the global pandemic have spawned countless cultural shifts. Primary among them may be the desire by many to dissolve the long-standing corporate gathering places by substituting virtual workspaces and video conferencing.
Whether productivity is enhanced or debilitated in a shared space is deliberated, we are left to consider new habits if we no longer find our way to our employer’s edifice. There are scores of “working” activities that are not work at all – rather, they are personal amusements. Surfing is not working. One works or one does not. To be sure, these cheats are rampant in the corporate cube farm. But with little oversight in our daily routine, how can we be expected to maintain focus? Perhaps the best is to remember our own biases, officed or not, and how we expect to earn our pay.
