Copyright Quality Publishing, Inc. Jul/Aug 2004Want to be at the head of the curve when it comes to innovation, technology, and the latest trends? Take an office job. The past 20 years saw a wealth of new innovations, products, and trends that shaped the very fabric of our society and our lives. Indeed, they not only shaped how we work but how we live as well. Although some began or were introduced more than 20 years ago, all of them firmly took hold within the office during the past 20 years.
As you might expect, assembling a top 20 list is a difficult task. No doubt many readers are going to question why certain trends, innovations, or products didn't make it onto this list. That's the problem with lists; there's no way we're all going to agree on what belongs and what doesn't. As you read through our top 20 list, feel free to argue each item's merits with your co-workers, friends, and family, and think about the effect these have had on your office and life. Of course, feel free to send e-mail to scullen@os-od.com, and let us know what you think should and should not have been included.
The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)
Passed by Congress in 1990 as a means to reduce discrimination against Americans with disabilities in employment, housing, education, public accommodations, etc., ADA applies to businesses with 15 or more employees. It's a broad law in this context and encompasses everything from the types of questions an employer can ask a prospective employee to the accommodations a business has to make for employees with disabilities as well as customers and clients.
Although the ramifications of the law may not be obvious to the average office worker, they are just the same. Consider ever since the law was passed, employers are no longer able to ask candidates questions about their disability, such as how they became disabled or the specifics of their disability. While some businesses had to scramble and make some costly modifications to meet the law's provision for reasonable accommodations, others found that making these provisions simply required modest adjustments. According to the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, one fifth of these accommodations cost nothing to make, more than half cost between $1 and $500 while the median cost is approximately $240. Scott Cullen
Casual Days
Is casual dress at work a conspiracy by the clothing industry to sell more khakis and jeans, or is it an employee morale booster? The answer may lie somewhere in between. Fridays have always seemed the casual day of choice, largely because the perception of wearing casual clothing to work gives employees the impression that the weekend has already begun. As corporate America has lightened up with casual Fridays, other segments of business have lightened up and allowed employees to dress casually every day of the week. Every once in a while you hear that people are nervous about keeping their jobs in this economy, so they're dressing up more, or that some influential company has decided that casual dress has led to lowered productivity. It's difficult, however, to go back to wearing suits when you're used to jeans. We may go a little less casual in the future than we have this year-there might be a trend to dressier slacks instead of khakis, and oxford shirts instead of polos. Nowadays, however, it's hard to picture a whole workforce turned out in suits. Ellen Gragg
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Computer Networks
For one of my early assignments writing for Scott and this magazine, I wrote about this strange thing on the horizon-the computer network. One of the interview subjects, whose job it was to promote the network concept, felt compelled nevertheless to point out that the most common network in use was what he called "the sneaker network," file sharing by walking a diskette from one computer to another. That expert was memorable, but not prophetic. Electronic networks have become a way of life, and diskettes are losing ground. In corporate settings, office workers now use the network extensively for file sharing, and quite commonly for work. In fact, many office workers work solely on the network and keep nothing on their local computer. Ellen Gragg
Digital Technology
When this publication first debuted in 1984, most of the office equipment we discussed on our pages used analog technology. Ah, those were simpler times. By the early 1990s, the shift toward digital had begun and analog, particularly in the copier world, was on the way out. Digital offered a world of promise-the promise of multifunctional features where a copier could also function as a printer. Rather than the analog light lens system used for making copies, digital copiers could scan originals as computerized data. In addition to multifunctional capabilities, digital technology was touted as being inherently more reliable than analog because digital copiers had fewer moving parts. Gut to 2004, and the only copiers introduced these days use digital technology. Yes, these devices are inherently more reliable but by no means infallible. Scott Cullen
Diversity in the Workplace
"Diversity" is a term that has come to describe the human changes in the workplace generated by powerful political movements, sociological changes, and economic forces over the past half century. Diversity refers both to co-workers differing in race, creed, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical health, and mental abilities and expecting them to tolerate one another. The changes aren't limited to the past 20 years, but there has been dramatic acceleration in the process since 1984 to the point where a unifying (and not politically charged) term was needed. We may feel we've come a long way, but I wonder how 2004, will look from the vantage point of 2024, or 2044. We thought we were enlightened in the '70s, compared to the '50s, but have a look at a '70s sitcom and all the gags about gender-stereotyped jobs. What immutable truths and necessary distinctions of today will look silly to us in the future? Ellen Gragg
Downsizing
"Downsizing" is a term many office workers and workers in general have come to loathe during the past 30 years. In the drive toward meeting budgets and profit projections, downsizing has been a common scenario throughout corporate America during the past two decades. Who among us has not been a downsizing victim or know someone who has been downsized out of a job? In the early 1990s, I worked for a major public relations agency that had a number of downsizings during my two-year tenure there. Looking back, it's funny how management handles these things. At one company-wide informational meeting held after one of those corporate bloodlettings, we were told this wasn't a "downsizing" but a "rightsizing." Not surprisingly, that euphemism never caught on. Scott Cullen
E-mail
The technology penetrated offices by storm in the mid 1990s and has forever changed the way we communicate with each other. In many offices, e-mail has become the way office memos are distributed throughout an organization. For all the complaints that it's impersonal, can easily be misunderstood, and is one of the ways those silly jokes and stories are now passed around an office, it's an efficient and environmentally friendly way of office communication. E-mail is arguably the most dramatic change in office communications of the last 20 years. Ellen Gragg
Ergonomics
This science from the Greek, ergon, to work, or possibly from the American, erg!, that sound you make when you try to stand up after a four-hour meeting, has actually been around for a longtime. It's been, however, an obscure science known only by specialists. Now, ergonomics has joined the common lexicon, thanks to the prevalence of computers, endless workdays, and ever longer commutes. Understanding ergonomics is what keeps us from getting crippled by mouse wrist, phone-shoulder, desk-slump, and car back pain. Today, we all use ergonomic chairs, wrist-rests, keyboard drawers, and a host of other devices meant to ease the strain of work (erg!) on our bodies. Some companies even include ergonomics training in the new employee orientation because office injuries are a real concern, and ergonomic devices and practices make a difference. Ellen Gragg
The Fax Machine
My first encounter with a fax machine occurred when I was working for a cable television magazine back in the early 1980s. I remember the day when one of my contacts at the Bravo cable channel asked me if we had a fax machine so she could fax me the programming schedule for our next issue. I had never heard the word "fax" before, didn't have a clue what a fax machine was, and knew we didn't have one in our office. Fast forward two years later to my first year at this magazine. What to my wondering eyes should appear, but an enormous amount of editorial coverage, press conferences, and trade show space devoted to this device called a "fax machine." Like the PC and e-mail, fax is a technology where we still find ourselves saying, "What would I have done without it?" True, with the advent of e-mail and MFPs, fax has lost a lot of its luster as a standalone device. The market research firm GAP Ventures notes fax unit placements declined from 4,758,030 units in 2003 to 4,576,260 units in 2003, a 3.8 percent decline. Although CAP predicts this decline will continue, the introduction of more MFPs with fax capabilities will ensure fax technology endures. Scott Cullen
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Globalization
Like the elephant described by the six blind men, globalization differs depending on which piece of it you come in contact with. During the past 20 years we've seen businesses merge into bigger and bigger companies and lose their local associations. The auto industry exemplifies this: Chrysler (United States) is owned by Daimler (Germany), and Volvo (Sweden) and Jaguar (Britain) are owned by Ford (United States). "An elephant is like a wall," said the man who was touching the elephant's side. Other companies open offices, affiliates, and joint ventures around the world. "The elephant is like a tree," said the man who held the leg. Jobs are moved around the world-manufacturing to Mexico and Asia and call centers and computer programming to India and China. "An elephant is like a rope," said the man who was touching the tail. Globalization means lost jobs for some people and whole areas, increased resources for some businesses, and a variety of changes in our daily lives. How do you schedule a conference call between Iowa City and Singapore? Will you need an interpreter on the line? Different people may experience different manifestations of globalization, but no one is untouched by it. Like an elephant, it's a big presence. Ellen Gragg
The Green Office
How green has your office become during the last 20 years? Green buildings, products, and furnishings made of recycled materials are key elements of the green office trend. The movement toward greener offices is perhaps most visible through paper and toner cartridge recycling programs, which began popping up in many offices across the country in the early 1990s. Recycling has also made it easy for an office to do its part in maintaining a greener environment, particularly when it comes to waste materials. After all, paper and paperboard make up the largest component of solid waste by weight. According to the National Office Paper Recycling Project, a joint effort by private companies and public interest groups to promote a national office paper recycling strategy, more than 40 percent of municipal solid waste is paper-about 71.8 million tons peryear. Looking beyond paper and toner cartridge recycling, the green office trend can be found in energy efficient buildings and also office equipment via Energy Star ratings that denote energy saving features as well as products and furnishings made of recyclable materials. Green buildings represent the upper end of the green office spectrum and are designed to reduce the costs associated with lighting, heating, and cooling office buildings. Scott Cullen
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The Internet
It's hard to believe something so pervasive is so new, but the Internet has really only been in wide use since about 1997. Apparently, the Internet has been in existence since the '70s, for people in the know. For most of us, though, it's a fairly recent thing. I first heard of it in late 1994. News reports would make reference to "The World-Wide Web" and "The Information Superhighway," but nobody I knew had ever seen it or could picture it. In 1995, I got a job at a rich company that had just upgraded its computer system, and one of my new colleagues showed me how to get into Netscape, click the icon to connect, and...wait. I don't remember ever using it for work in those days, because it just wasn't practical. Now, those days are a distant memory. The Internet is the first place I turn for information at work or home. Ellen Gragg
All Things Microsoft
What some perceive as the evil software empire has been a boon to so many of us who work in offices and are dependent on our computers and software for getting our daily work done. Without the various programs of the Windows operating system, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, how the heck could we have accomplished so many of our daily tasks during the past 20 years? Sure, we might have found another way, and some of us have (Isn't that right Mac maniacs?). But if one looks for the software manufacturer that has had the biggest impact on the way we work, one needs look no farther than that Redmond, Washington-based company Mr. Gates built. Scott Cullen
MFPs
MFPs or Multifunction Peripherals remain the new wave in office equipment more than a decade after they were first introduced. The early generation of MFPs were devices that could perform a number of functions, but as many users found out, they couldn't perform all tasks equally well. That's changed as technology has evolved and a lot of initial concerns expressed by end users and industry pundits have disappeared. Today, devices that copy, print, fax, and scan have all but replaced single-function devices in manufacturers' product lines, such as fax machines and copiers. Offices may still be figuring out how to maximize the use of these devices, but one thing is for sure, the MFP is here to stay. Scott Cullen
Office Superstores and Mega Dealers
Remember the days before OfficeMax, Office Depot, and Staples when you simply ordered pens, pencils, and notepads from your local office products dealer? The superstores brought a big-box mentality to office products sales with an emphasis on competitive pricing. As a result, thousands of independent office products dealers went out of business. As for office equipment, mega dealerships such as IKON, Global, and Danka have had the same effect on independent office equipment dealerships. Although big-box retailers and mega dealers remain viable channels for buying office products and equipment, many of the remaining independent office products and equipment dealerships continue to thrive because their customer service arguably remains unmatched by the office superstores and mega dealers. Scott Cullen
The Mobile Office
Work today takes a lot of equipment, but it's all portable (theoretically, anyway), so office work isn't limited to a physical office space. Take along your laptop and cell phone, and you can work from anywhere. Some people bring more-PDAs, portable printers, beepers, and fax machines than they can plug into the car. My most memorable personal experience with mobile office work was a magazine interview I did at a crash site. Mind you, I wasn't doing a news report on the crash-I was in it. I had a minor car accident about an hour before I was to conduct a telephone interview for a feature article. No one was hurt in the accident, but the property damage was sufficient enough that a police investigation was required. The police were overloaded that day, so the time for this hard-to-schedule interview came before they did. I used my cell phone and conducted the interview while leaning against my damaged Mazda. Ellen Gragg
The Paperless Office
The concept of the paperless office originated in the 1970s and was a huge buzzword when Office Systems debuted back in 1984. This was a concept that was touted ad nauseam by industry pundits and manufacturers who said electronic storage and computers were going to put the kibosh on offices' reliance on paper. As we can attest, the paperless office remains a myth, albeit one that's been replaced by the concept of the office with less paper. Even so, offices are still churning out paper by the bushel. Consider the average U.S. office worker uses more than 10,000 sheets of printing and copying paper per year and generates two pounds of paper waste per day, according to the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance. That said, the office with less paper is where offices are heading-but not so fast. Although electronic storage solutions are the wave of the future, don't count out the impact of new output devices, forms of communication, and information dissemination, such as e-mail, the Internet, MFPs, and printers, which will continue to keep those copiers and printers humming and file cabinets overflowing. Scott Cullen
Telecommuting
Working from home-what a concept! Gartner Group estimates the worldwide count of telecommuters was 137 million in 2003 and growing. While this concept is still the domain of progressive employers, such as OfficeSOLUTIONS for which its managing editor, editorial director, and art director work out of home offices, this trend shows no signs of abating. With gas prices rising and commutes becoming more grueling, the convenience of being able to roll out of bed and stroll down the hall into a home office is hard to beat. If you can conduct business just the same as if you were working in a traditional office, this approach can be terrific for you and the boss. Ellen Gragg
The Personal Computer
Some office workers had PCs in the '80s, but not regular people. Early adopters had them because they were new technology. Some writers had "word processors," but most of us didn't. There weren't many uses for PCs in the office when they first came out, because few applications existed for mass consumption. It was much more common for a firm to buy a computer system with a few dumb terminals and hire a programmer to write custom applications specific for the business. People who didn't have access to programmers couldn't get a lot of use out of a computer. In the late '80s, personal computers began improving and small competitors left the market-remember the Texas Instruments PC? The Tandy? The Commander? At the same time, probably because consolidation in the hardware market made it practical, consumer-oriented software applications became more available and more affordable. Those two trends reinforced each other, and here we are in 2004, in a world where an office or cubical without a PC is virtually nonexistent. Ellen Gragg
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Post-it Notes
Those sticky notes invented by Art Fry, a new-product development researcher at 3M, and introduced to the market in 1981 seem to be everywhere. As modest little inventions go, the idea of taking a 3 x 3-inch piece of paper and adding an adhesive to the back so you can jot down a message and then slap that note on virtually any document or object in an office, remains a stroke of brilliance. To recap the story, the Post-it Note was born out of Fry's frustration of having his scrap paper bookmarks fall out of his church choir hymnal. Taking a repositionable adhesive invented in 1968 by another 3M research scientist, Dr. Spence Silver, Fry found that combining the adhesive with a small piece of paper created a reliable bookmark. The rest, as they say, is history. Scott Cullen
| [Author Affiliation] |
| Scott Cullen is managing editor of OfficeSOLUTIONS and has been involved with this magazine for the past 13 years as an associate editor, editor, and contributing editor. Ellen Gragq is a contributing editor to OfficeSOLUTIONS. Her first article appeared in this magazine in 1987. |
My Research