12 Office Practices We Once Embraced That Now Seem Outdated
Anyone who worked through the latter half of the 20th century will remember office practices that now seem old-fashioned and cringeworthy. I mean, nowadays, we don't even have to go to the office!
Lack of equality, poor health and safety, and big business largesse led to plenty of questionable office etiquette, which we look back on now in disbelief. In my first office job, we didn't even have a computer.
These are the office practices I learned when I first started in the world of work back in the 80s that now seem outdated, out of touch, and out of time.
1. Smoking

Now we know that smoking kills nearly half a million Americans every year and that passive smoking is also bad for your health, many states have passed laws that mean smoking in offices is banned.
Instead, hordes of workers gather outside in smoking shelters for their nicotine fix, and many more have been nudged into giving up.
Watching drama series like Mad Men, where people smoke inside, feels pretty outdated — what were we thinking?
2. High Heels

I worked in a senior role in the corporate world for decades before changing direction to become a writer, and back then, it was expected that women would wear heels to work. The higher, the better if you wanted to succeed or grab a promotion.
Nowadays, it's much more acceptable to wear flats or even trainers for work. Some women have successfully contested workplace policy that requires the wearing of heels as sexist and outdated.
3. Working From the Office

Although working from home did happen before COVID-19, the pandemic completely changed where people work. Now it's the norm for staff to visit the office only occasionally.
There is an ongoing debate about whether WFH makes people more or less productive and efficient, rooted in whether trust exists between employer and employee, a sad indictment of today's office practices.
4. Rewarding Overwork

Remember the days when you worked until midnight to finish a project or responded to emails at 10 pm before going to bed? Remember also the feeling of burnout, which research suggests affects 57% of American workers? That's more than half the population experiencing negative impacts due to work-related stress.
Today, the working world is much more cognisant of burnout, stress, and overwork resulting from a lack of flexibility around working hours, expectations, and an outdated culture of rewarding overwork. This outdated practice is now more frowned upon than celebrated.
5. Inequality

Female, black, disabled, gay, or just …different. If you were any of these back in the day, life in the office could be challenging. There were no policies in place to protect you or give you the same rights as everyone else, and I, along with many others, suffered bullying and harassment because I didn't conform.
Today, there are laws that employers must follow with their own company policies, protecting the rights of every staff member, regardless of race, color, gender, or orientation.
6. Filing

I used to hate filing with a passion. It was mind-numbingly boring, and as soon as one pile of papers was dealt with, another would appear. There were filing cabinets lining the office walls, and once full, their contents would be disgorged into the dark cupboard named ‘Archive' where people would spend whole days doing yet more filing.
Nowadays, records are stored electronically without the need for vast amounts of space to store boxes of receipts, orders, invoices, and such. The whole process of filing seems antiquated and somehow even more old-fashioned than it actually is.
7. Sending a Telex or Fax

Telex was a significant method of sending text messages electronically between businesses from the 60s until the 90s when the telex machine was superseded by fax. It's hard to believe that I once operated both these dinosaurs of office technology and thought they were so modern!
Telex is now wholly extinct, and fax is almost there — both replaced by SMS and email. But we do have them to thank for paving the way to more modern technology. In my first office job, both these machines meant almost instant communication and replaced having to post a letter.
8. Working Lunches

I use the term tongue in cheek, as working lunch at the Vice President level really meant going out to a restaurant, eating well, and sinking a bottle of wine on expenses. Great for the VP, not so great for the workers who would be eating lunch in the poorly provisioned staff room, but very well aware of what their bosses were up to.
The scenario smacks of excess and hierarchy and is outdated in today's new post-pandemic world. If you're going to spend the company dollar, take your team out instead — they'll reward you with loyalty and hard work in abundance.
9. The Typing Pool

Imagine a large room with row upon row of desks manned by women (always women!) bashing away at manual typewriters and enormous word processors all day. Every so often, a typist would disappear into an office to take dictation for the boss, using shorthand to write quickly.
This kind of communication has gradually diminished with the advent of emails, which are more efficient and less formal. Where a letter does need to be sent, it is usually done using software and mail merge systems without the input of human hands.
10. Jobs for Life

The idea of moving jobs was frowned upon until the late 20th century. Once you started, you'd made a commitment and stuck to it. Your employer valued your experience, and you got promoted and stayed until you retired.
Today, people move jobs regularly, with the perceived wisdom that two years is enough to gain experience and springboard you into the next role with another company. Keep going, and you could work for over 20 employees before retiring!
11. Rigid Hierarchy

When I started work, the boss was someone to be afraid of. If you were called into the office, you went quaking, and if, by some miracle, you weren't sacked, you were grateful. As I progressed through my career and became a boss myself, I saw this change.
The shift came with 360-degree appraisals being encouraged, where staff could appraise their peers and bosses anonymously. This has gradually moved towards a more open work environment where feedback between managers and subordinates is now a two-way street.
12. Working Hours

It used to be called the ‘nine to five,' and you were there on the dot at 9 am and going out the door at 5 pm. But this lack of office flexibility has gone out of fashion, and the mantra of ‘output, not process' is the new normal.
Now, it's all about making it easy for people to manage personal commitments and run errands. If you can dictate an email or read a report on the treadmill, why not spend some of your working day in the gym?