Why it is assumed that everyone works in an office?

[Misty Avich]

It's so annoying whenever I search workplace advice on Google, the results are always aimed for office workers only, like it's the only existing type of job out there.

Like when I asked Google how to avoid catching a cold from a co-worker it just came up with things like "clean your keyboard and desk and don't use their chair". Or when I try to find advice about dealing with workplace bullying it just said things like "maybe ask if you can move to a different desk and put up dividers" or something like that.

We don't all work in offices. What about people who work in retail? Or on roofs? Or cleaning, like I do? Those answers don't apply. My job doesn't involve desks and computers.

Yes I know I could specify which job I'm talking about but these days Google can't seem to take too much information and the AI answers (which are TERRIBLE) just comes up, followed by a load of links from Quora or Reddit that don't really answer your questions.

This isn't a thread asking for advice on these issues at work by the way, it's just for discussion as to why the default idea for a job seems to be in an office.

 

[Judge]

Sounds like just another example of how flawed Google Algorithms can be.

Much like their YouTube...where just because you watch a single video the algorithm becomes fixated on that one subject and often buries users in them.

Too many assumptions too early into a user's initial query.

 

[Misty Avich]

This is why I always prefer to ask other people for opinions or answers or advice rather than Google, which is why I hate when people say "why don't you just ask Google?" I prefer responses from breathing humans.

 

[GrownupGirl]

Generalization is a sad and pathetic part of human nature. Like when I've looked up information about ear infections and "they" always seem to assume that it's only young children who get them when I've had them my whole life.

 

[Judge]

The reality of using any search engine to get precisely what you want in record time is more often than not a hit/miss proposition. Where providing details and context may- or may not improve your search.

A process I must do all the time when a problem pops up in Linux, where there is little to no customer service to access. And I almost never get what I need on the initial query.

It's sure not any genie in a bottle. Yet some people seem to treat it as if it was.

 

[Judge]

I'm guessing the algorithm works off the idea that biological contagions of any kind circulate more in offices than other places of work, not to mention that many office workers are often in close proximity to one another. But even then it's still a broad assumption....as any onboard airlines employee can tell you! Meatpackers as well...lots of bio-toxins and standing in close order with other employees.

So unless you specify your actual working environment in your query, the algorithm will just default to office workers, even when that reflect only a portion of any workforce.

 

[FayetheAspie]

I'm not sure. Perhaps desk jobs account for the largest percentage of jobs or something like that.

 

[Kitsuna]

I'm not sure. Perhaps desk jobs account for the largest percentage of jobs or something like that.

This is it. I pulled up data on the US workforce out of curiosity, but I’m sure it is at least partly comparable to the UK, and the jobs like transport and other non-office centric jobs is only ~23%.

 

[Misty Avich]

Most people I know work in factories.

 

[Kitsuna]

The biggest industry in my area is oil and gas drilling and refining, or chemical manufacturing.

It all depends on location and what industry the local government was able to attract the most.

 

[Cryptid]

Why it is assumed that everyone works in an office?

Because the people who compose those Google advice apps all work in offices and have no concept of anything else.

 

[Misery]

Honestly, it's easy to point towards an algorithm as the blame for this one, but I dont really think that's the cause.

I remember when I was setting up to do the game-dev contract years ago, which was with an indie team, for some reason I'd had the idea that it was like, me and one other out of the group who were working remotely. I'd thought from the start that the "main" team who were always together had some small office somewhere.

Why? I'm not sure. But if I had to guess, the reason would be exposure. The concept of "work" is just connected to "office" by default as an association, and media in general also pushes that forward, particularly older media, before remote work was possible. If characters in a story arent doing like, physical labor, chances are they're in an office crunching numbers and pushing papers. Major shows like, well, The Office just add to that. It's a really, REALLY common trope.

Not to mention exposure IRL. My father & stepmother worked in high corporate positions, and that meant full offices, which I'd been to plenty of times.

These days there's still exposure to that; whenever I go to physical therapy, it is not held in its own separate building. It is located in an office building, and I have to navigate multiple floors and a stairwell (I dont trust that particular elevator), and pass by numerous offices which usually have their front doors open when active (and they seem to always be active) to get there.

So, despite my familiarity with the internet and my constant long-distance interactions with countless people, that association still holds in my mind, drilled in by media and IRL exposure to the setting. Work = office.

Note that I myself do not work a job at all, and very few of the jobs that I had when I did work were in anything that could be considered an office. The bank job almost counts, but the presence of the sorter machines kinda ruined that particular aesthetic. It was more of a data hub than an office.

With that dev team then, indeed, they had no centralized location. It was all remote for everyone, linked by a server.


I still mentally associate "work" with "office".

 

[Rachie]

Who is AI simply I wonder because whenever I go on Google the first few one seeming often to be from AI. Now they is not having a website and I have idea where they are and certainly often find a trace to it what they said. and thinking how on earth do you want me to take this advice just turned up like that or so and so. Must be mad and shake my head or what.

So who are they=they are a company new one but don't provide a website link and for what may be and why. As simple as possible please any takers.

First I was thinking this assuming that autistics a good job for them is working in a office job. Bingo started going scrolling up why even noone got my suggestions and reached to the top and realised I had been there before and couldn't even myself get it earlier so deleted my post,

I think though to first step to know who is may clue this together for me.

 

[FayetheAspie]

AI stands for artificial intelligence.