Fun Facts About Work, Meetings, and the Office

The word "telecommuting" was coined in 1973 by Jack Nilles, a physicist who had worked on NASA space and communications projects and began studying whether technology could let people work from home instead of driving into Los Angeles.

A well-known Stanford study of a Chinese travel company found that employees who worked from home were about 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts, largely due to fewer breaks and a quieter environment.

Remote workers can save an estimated $4,000 a year or more by cutting costs like commuting, work clothes, and eating out for lunch.

The phrase "Thank God It's Friday" got extra mileage from a 1978 movie of the same name starring Donna Summer, as well as the TGI Fridays restaurant chain, which opened its first location in New York City in 1965.

Friday the 13th is considered unlucky across much of the Western world, but in Italy the truly unlucky date is Friday the 17th, partly because the Roman numerals XVII can be rearranged to spell "VIXI," Latin for "I have lived" (implying death).

In Saudi Arabia and Iran, Friday is treated as a religious day of rest rather than a standard workday.

Workplace surveys have repeatedly found Tuesday to be employees' most productive day of the week, with output often tapering off by Friday.

The average person will spend roughly 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime - about a third of their waking adult life.

Computer engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the first network email in 1971 and chose the "@" symbol to separate a user's name from the computer they were using.

According to a widely repeated bit of trivia, Charles Darwin added wheels to the chair in his study so he could roll between his desk and specimens more quickly - one of the earliest known examples of a wheeled office chair.

Paper business cards are believed to date back to 15th-century China, where they functioned as "visiting cards" announcing a person's arrival.

In 2015, a nursing home in Gothenburg, Sweden, ran a widely publicized trial of six-hour workdays to see whether shorter hours improved productivity and staff wellbeing.

The modern coffee break is often traced to late 19th-century American factories, where workers took short pauses to drink coffee and rest.

A University of Arizona study famously found that the average office desk harbors around 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

The literal use of "deadline" dates to the American Civil War, when it referred to a line drawn around a prison camp that guards would shoot anyone for crossing.

Japan has a specific word, "karoshi," meaning death caused by overwork.

American psychologist Wayne Oates is credited with coining the term "workaholic" in a 1968 article, later popularizing it in his 1971 book "Confessions of a Workaholic."

The Netherlands has one of the shortest average workweeks among wealthy nations, with workers averaging around 29-30 hours a week, largely due to the country's very high rate of part-time employment.