BBC Learning English – 6 Minute English / Life in the modern office

Introduction

Most modern offices include large spaces without internal walls dividing them up. The idea is to create a sense of togetherness, but many employees prefer having their own space. Neil and Sam talk about the ways workers find to personalise their workplace and teach you vocabulary along the way.

This week’s question

According to a 2021 survey by the Metro newspaper, what did British workers vote the worst thing about working in an office?

a)    printers not working

b)    people speaking too loudly 

c)    co-workers leaving empty milk cartons in the fridge

Listen to the programme to find out the answer. 

Vocabulary

hot-desking
system where office workers do not have their own personal desk but use any available desk on a day-by-day basis 

nine-to-five
work which begins at 9am and ends at 5pm – the normal Monday to Friday office working hours

montage
a piece of work made up by putting together several different items, often in interesting combinations 

sense of familiarity
feeling of knowing something or someone so well that you feel close, comfortable, and relaxed around them

worn out
so old or damaged from continual use that it cannot be used any more 

hard graft
(slang) hard work 

Transcript

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Sam
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Sam.

Neil
And I’m Neil. Have you seen my pen, Sam? It’s not on my desk.

Sam
No, I haven’t touched your pen, Neil.

Neil
… and someone’s taken my coffee mug too! Agh, ever since we started hot-desking, people in this office think they can do whatever they like!

Sam
Neil doesn’t like the new rule about office hot-desking, the system where workers don’t have their own personal desk, but use any available desk, on a temporary basis. Maybe he should look for another job and quit the nine-to-five – a phrase describing jobs which start at 9am and end at 5pm, the normal hours that people in offices work from Monday to Friday. 

Neil
Hmm, maybe I should quit. I loved working from home during the pandemic – no early mornings, no crowded trains… and no-one using my pens!

Sam
As the Covid pandemic slows down, more and more people are returning to work in the office. In this programme, we take a look at life in the modern office. And of course, we’ll learn some useful vocabulary as well. 

Neil
But first I have a question for you, Sam. As you know, I’m not an office lover. Besides disappearing pens, workers have plenty of other complaints about office life, from co-workers who never do the washing up, to fighting over spaces in the car park. But according to a 2021 survey by the Metro newspaper, what did British workers vote the worst thing about working in an office? Was it …
a)    printers not working?
b)    people speaking too loudly? or
c)    co-workers leaving empty milk cartons in the fridge?

Sam
Hmm, I see stealing pens isn’t on the list, so I’ll say a) printers not working. That really makes me mad!

Neil
OK, Sam. I’ll reveal the correct answer later in the programme. Nowadays most modern offices are open-plan, large spaces without internal walls dividing them up. The idea is to create a sense of togetherness, but many employees prefer having their own space, and use all types of objects to mark out their own personal territory. These could be anything from family photos and holiday souvenirs, to home-made cakes and biscuits placed at the end of a desk to allow people grab a biscuit and start a conversation.

Sam
Researcher, Harriet Shortt, travelled around Britain interviewing office workers about the types of objects they use to decorate and mark out their workspace. Here she is telling BBC Radio 4 programme, Thinking Allowed, about one young woman who stuck photos and postcards onto strips of cardboard:

Harriet Shortt
She had created this sort of montage on this strip of paper and would roll it up daily – she had a little plant as well – and she would take it to whatever desk she was working at and would pin it up to a set of low-level desk divider… and so there’s that sense of, however temporarily they might be in a particular space in the office, they still … there’s still evidence in this research that people want to feel comfort, and settled and have some sense of familiarity.

Neil
The woman Harriet interviewed used photos and postcards to create a montage – a piece of work made by putting together several different items, often in interesting combinations. Her photo montage reminded her of the people and places she loved outside of work.

Sam
For Harriet this shows that people want workspaces to have a sense of familiarity – the feeling of knowing something so well that you feel comfortable and relaxed.

Neil
Harriet also interviewed hairdressers working in beauty salons about the marks and stains found in their workplace. Here she tells BBC Radio 4’s, Thinking Allowed, about a strangely shaped mark on the floor of one hair salon:

Harriet Shortt
A sort of half-moon scuff mark that goes right round the back of the chair – so literally, she’s worn out the floor. It’s exactly where a hairdresser would tread for many, many hours of the day. And she took the photograph, and she showed it to me, and she said, ‘This is me. You want to know about identity. It represents hard graft’. 

Sam
Harriet interviewed a hairdresser whose salon floor had been worn out – damaged by continual use, after being walked on again and again as the woman cut people’s hair. For her, the worn-out floor symbolised hard graft, or hard work.

Neil
Whatever your job, we all spend most of each day at work, so it’s important to have a workplace that’s safe, comfortable and familiar… where people don’t steal your pen!

Sam
Oh, Neil – you sound like the office workers in that newspaper survey.

Neil
Yes, let’s return to my question which was: according to a 2021 Metro newspaper survey, what is British workers’ number one complaint about working in an office.

Sam
I guessed it was the printers not working. Was I right?

Neil
You were wrong, I’m afraid! In fact, the top complaint was people speaking too loudly – another of my pet hates!

Sam
OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme on the office nine-to-five – work which happens during normal Monday to Friday office hours.

Neil
Hot-desking is where office workers do not have their own permanent desk but use a different desk each day.

Sam
A montage is made by putting together different items in interesting combinations.

Neil
A sense of familiarity is a feeling of knowing something so well that you feel comfortable and relaxed around it.

Sam
When something is worn out from overuse, it’s so old or damaged.

Neil
And finally, hard graft is a slang phrase meaning hard work.

Sam
Once more our six minutes are up! We hope you’ll join us again soon for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English. But that’s goodbye for now!

Neil
Goodbye!