Viewpoints: Corporate things my last job ruined for me

innovative with culture, people and performance (my true loves).

These dinosaurs have not all done it well, but the movement is movement. I’m leaving an organisation that did incredible things in this space. We upended all these things and more. And this is a list of things that my last job ‘ruined’ for me:

Dress codes

Rest in peace, suit and tie. Long may you suffer in the charity shop sale.

Dress codes are not designed for now − they have created the uniform nature of the Industrial Age, where cogs in the machine were more important than the people running the machines, I can work as efficiently in my mohawk and shorts. Even better, perhaps, when I need to be comfortable for deep work.

If a shirt and blazer make you think more of me, that is about you, not me. But I will never enter an office in Crocs.

Job specs and KPIs

The entitled whine of ‘it is not my job’ echoes down every Zoom call. A job description is a snapshot in time, and time moves on. Sometimes the team needs you to step out of your comfort zone and do things for the team’s good. I used to design the offices when we moved. Not exactly what they hired me for, but I embraced it.

We do what is required for the mission. Your oatmeal latté can wait.

Open plan

We all agree the open plan is dead.

Sitting all day surrounded by people on work calls, personal calls, kids’ calls and music leaking out of inexpensive headphones will kill your soul. No amount of saving grace can transform it back into a place of productivity. Work from home and the efficient hybrid are ways to go; if you must be in the office, do not make it an open plan.

Embrace open spaces with closed, dedicated single-use spaces for focused work. Set up more meeting rooms than you require and allow the free flow of people and traffic between high-density and solo areas …

Change

The world has changed. Where we work has changed. Has your employer changed?