Every year, October 4th is observed as Improve Your Office Day. This is a day when all workers are encouraged to make their workspace more productive, and if possible, more “homey.” It’s estimated that the average person will spend approximately 90,000 hours of their life at work.

That’s approximately a third of their life being spent behind a desk or crammed into a cubicle. If a person has to spend so much time in the office, they might as well make it as comfortable and organized as possible. And that’s why people all over the world take the time to observe this holiday.

The History of Improve Your Office Day

Before we talk about Improve Your Office Day, we would like to talk about the evolution of the office. Although people have worked in fields and workshops throughout history, it wasn’t until the 15th century that the first official office was created.

It was created by medieval monks during the 15th century. They created a “scriptorium.” This was a place for writing that was located in European monasteries. The monks would spend time in this “office” writing, copying, and editing manuscripts.

They also used the space for illuminating manuscripts, doing research, and working with clerical scribes. Sure, that sounds like an office to us. The concept of the office continued to evolve during the 18th century. This is when the Old Admiralty Office opened in 1726. The East India Company also used office space to manage their colonies all over the world.

After all, maintaining an empire requires a lot of paperwork. During the 1840s, the invention of the lightbulb extended the average workday for most workers. And then, in 1902, office buildings began to be designed with a vertical design.

As for the history of this holiday, we’re not sure when it was created. We do know that it’s been around for a few years now, but we’re unsure exactly when it was created. Our best guess is that it was created around 2018 or so.

Quick Office Facts

Let’s examine a few facts that we learned about the office while we researched Improve Your Office Day. We hope that our readers find the following bullet points to be as entertaining as we did.

• Americans spend approximately 100 hours a year commuting to the office, on average.
• Only about 1 percent of employers in the United States allow their employees to take naps during work hours.
• The day of the week with the lowest amount of employee absenteeism is Tuesday.

Observing Improve Your Office Day

Improve Your Office Day can be observed simply by taking the time to organize and clean the office. That most likely will make work sessions more effective and streamlined. People can spread the word about this holiday by using the hashtag #ImproveYourOfficeDay.