Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Lauren's avatar

I really resonated with this post. I'm an auditor at a Big 5 accounting firm - I am used to having a flexible work environment. I could be in the office or at a client. I work on the train, on airplanes, at home, in coffee shops, or the public library, but working from home consistently for so long and isolated from my peers/co-workers has been exhausting.

I'm lucky; I'm middle management. I live in a spacious flat with my husband and have a dedicated workspace in the sitting room/dining room.

The partners of the firm have garages or dedicated home office rooms and stay-at-home spouses who deal with the kids.

Our staff - who are between the ages of 18 to 29, aren't so lucky. They are living in flatshares or at home with Mum and Dad, and so now their workspace is their bedroom. Parents complain that they work too much for so little pay, flatmates on furlough or laid off day drink while they are closeted in their bedrooms for 10 hours a day trying to zoom.

One day our COO sent out an email about how we were as a firm 'thriving' under lockdown and working from home, and I was livid because it's easy for him to say that. At the top, they can't believe how much they see their children now and think it's lovely. Meanwhile, our core staff are suffering immensely. I got on the phone with my regional department head and explained how the corporate response was completely unacceptable. Thankfully, he listened to me and said he would feed that up to the top, and the messaging changed, but still, it's hard, and they're already re-imagining work in the future. Many of my clients are now slashing their sq. footage and implementing first come, first serve hot desking. London's business landscape will be changed forever.

Expand full comment
Sarah's avatar

This is maybe a bit out of left field, but Kathryn Lofton's "Consuming Religion" has a couple of chapters, well, thinking about work in religious terms, which might be an avenue to consider although not your main focus. I'm thinking in particular about the chapter on the Calvinist origin of cubicles and about the chapter on how Goldman Sachs is, in fact, a religion.

Expand full comment
17 more comments...

No posts