WORKPLACE DESIGN By: Chris West
Figure Metropolitan Life 1896 (http://www.officeinsight.com/1953)
The Workplace Environment: Evolution to the Present Day and What It May Look Like In the Future Knowledge workers have recently been freed from land-line telephones and desktop computers, but this freedom has been replaced with smaller work spaces, longer hours, and a barrage of technological distractions. This freedom has created new approaches to working, called alternative workplace strategies (AWS). By definition, this means telecommuting, an arrangement in which employees regularly work from home or other places. (Herman Miller, 2007) The traditional office is evolving rapidly, from box offices, to cubicles, to open spaces, to telecommuting. Workplaces of today must be more creative and effective than ever before to accommodate a wider variety of needs, and to inspire worker performance and productivity. Looking back at the history of office planning and design, the worker was not the focus. In fact, one of the earliest workplace designers in 1904, an engineer named Frederick Taylor, was mostly interested in efficiency (Taylor, 1911). His approach was to crowd workers together in an open environment as management looked on from private offices. 1