Abolishing executive offices

IT IS ACCEOHSBC tradition of corporate architecture. A company’s top executives get offices on the top floor, often dubbed the -suite after the “chiefs” who occupy it. The resides in the “corner office”, with the biggest windows and best views. Junior staff suffer a few moments of trepidation when summoned upstairs.Some heterodox bosses shun this tradition. Reed Hastings of Netflix has no office, corner or otherwise, and huddles at random desks, for example. Now more staid firms are following suit. Executives in the London offices of , a banking giant, will no longer be based on the 42nd floor of the group’s Canary Wharf tower. Instead the floor will be converted into meeting rooms. Senior executives will “hot-desk” with everyone else.