Cities have increasingly become unattractive as places in which to work. Overcrowding, pollution, gridlock and concern for the environment are all deterrents. The workforce, too, has changed. Increased divorce rates mean there are more single parents who favour flexible working options, for example.
The key to release from city working has been provided in the new technology. Mobile phones, faxes, modems and laptop computers all mean that there is not now the pressing need for people to crowd together into centres of business. The basic tenet of flexible working is that the technology allows people to perform their work functions without actually having to go into the office.
In the simplest terms, for an organisation to continue to be successful in times of such rapid change, it needs to make the best of its two major tools, people and technology. How well a company can put the two together will largely determine its success in the 1990s - those who fail to rethink and re-evaluate how they can make that mix work will fall behind the others who do.
The layout of the office has gradually evolved to the point now where the virtual office gives us the ability to free people from their desks. We moved from the cellular arrangement with varying levels of management clustered around a typing pool to the open plan concept which removed many of the physical barriers within the office.