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| Offices in houses and the best tea breaks – welcome to working life in Tehran | Offices in houses and the best tea breaks – welcome to working life in Tehran |
| (4 months later) | |
| Related: The logistics of the Tehran taxi commute | Related: The logistics of the Tehran taxi commute |
| All the Tehran offices I’ve worked in – which is to say three – have been in repurposed residential buildings. One had a living room. Another had a fireplace on each floor. The one I work in now was once a luxurious walk-up apartment in a formerly upscale district of the capital. If you pay attention, you can pick out bedrooms and might even notice the under-equipped kitchen that now serves as our cafeteria. Some of our products are on display in a recessed vitrine meant for storing expensive china. I’m told the pole that runs the length of the parquet flooring downstairs means they once taught ballet here. | All the Tehran offices I’ve worked in – which is to say three – have been in repurposed residential buildings. One had a living room. Another had a fireplace on each floor. The one I work in now was once a luxurious walk-up apartment in a formerly upscale district of the capital. If you pay attention, you can pick out bedrooms and might even notice the under-equipped kitchen that now serves as our cafeteria. Some of our products are on display in a recessed vitrine meant for storing expensive china. I’m told the pole that runs the length of the parquet flooring downstairs means they once taught ballet here. |
| There’s something charming about having your tea break in a yard someone’s three-year-old may have learned to ride a tricycle in decades ago. But you miss conveniently placed phone jacks, bathrooms with stalls, walls that are penetrable by cellphone signals and empty conference rooms with white boards and projectors. Not to mention that deathly synthetic office carpet that makes you feel like you belong. | There’s something charming about having your tea break in a yard someone’s three-year-old may have learned to ride a tricycle in decades ago. But you miss conveniently placed phone jacks, bathrooms with stalls, walls that are penetrable by cellphone signals and empty conference rooms with white boards and projectors. Not to mention that deathly synthetic office carpet that makes you feel like you belong. |
| Tehran needs office buildings that were meant to be office buildings. And while some property developers are spending tens of millions of dollars to rectify the shortage, I don’t think they have small to mid-sized companies in mind. | Tehran needs office buildings that were meant to be office buildings. And while some property developers are spending tens of millions of dollars to rectify the shortage, I don’t think they have small to mid-sized companies in mind. |
| The typical workday in Iran is supposed to start at 8 or 8.30am and end at 4.30pm, a standard eight-hour shift. But most of us work (unpaid) overtime - my floor strolls in at 9am and almost always ends up working until at least 6pm. | The typical workday in Iran is supposed to start at 8 or 8.30am and end at 4.30pm, a standard eight-hour shift. But most of us work (unpaid) overtime - my floor strolls in at 9am and almost always ends up working until at least 6pm. |
| Related: Iran's state TV tries 'soft power' to win hearts and minds | Related: Iran's state TV tries 'soft power' to win hearts and minds |
| Upon arrival, I say hello to the security guard on duty and make a point of mentioning his name. He sits in a little shed they’ve somehow managed to squeeze underneath the stairwell and tries to pass the time by watching state TV all day. (If you’ve ever watched state television in Iran, you will understand how impressive this is). I then use the wall-mounted fingerprint reader to check into the building. These machines are quite popular here in Iran, I’ve noticed. | Upon arrival, I say hello to the security guard on duty and make a point of mentioning his name. He sits in a little shed they’ve somehow managed to squeeze underneath the stairwell and tries to pass the time by watching state TV all day. (If you’ve ever watched state television in Iran, you will understand how impressive this is). I then use the wall-mounted fingerprint reader to check into the building. These machines are quite popular here in Iran, I’ve noticed. |
| Office life is rife with the same curiosities as most other places in the world. There’s the guy who wears the same thing every day (or maybe he just happens to own five of everything). There’s the copy-machine that doubles as a black hole for anything you load into it, forcing you to harass Miss F to copy and scan your documents. There’s also a highly coveted paperclip-storing tape-dispensing pen-holding apparatus. I scavenged one from another guy who left because he couldn’t get along with the CEO’s right-hand-woman. | Office life is rife with the same curiosities as most other places in the world. There’s the guy who wears the same thing every day (or maybe he just happens to own five of everything). There’s the copy-machine that doubles as a black hole for anything you load into it, forcing you to harass Miss F to copy and scan your documents. There’s also a highly coveted paperclip-storing tape-dispensing pen-holding apparatus. I scavenged one from another guy who left because he couldn’t get along with the CEO’s right-hand-woman. |
| It bears mentioning that not getting along with the right-hand-woman (RHW) can portend bad news. Iran is, after all, a country where loyalty, trustworthiness, and seniority trump most other personal qualities. It’s why a lot of companies and government organs are staffed with unqualified but feverishly loyal “managers” who might even be related to the boss. Who’s more trustworthy than family, right? | It bears mentioning that not getting along with the right-hand-woman (RHW) can portend bad news. Iran is, after all, a country where loyalty, trustworthiness, and seniority trump most other personal qualities. It’s why a lot of companies and government organs are staffed with unqualified but feverishly loyal “managers” who might even be related to the boss. Who’s more trustworthy than family, right? |
| While she might not be a relative, the RHW has been here for around 10 years and regardless of her qualifications, the CEO even trusts her to pack his suitcases and fold his clothes. If you’re working with her and she forgets something, as she is wont to do, it’s best to play it off as your own mistake since blaming her could mean getting on her bad side. | While she might not be a relative, the RHW has been here for around 10 years and regardless of her qualifications, the CEO even trusts her to pack his suitcases and fold his clothes. If you’re working with her and she forgets something, as she is wont to do, it’s best to play it off as your own mistake since blaming her could mean getting on her bad side. |
| The bad side is something our office secretaries have seen repeatedly. It’s probably why there emerges a vicious rivalry between any fresh-meat secretary and the RHW. We once had a particularly productive secretary who, office rumors had it, got into a nasty fight with the RHW. Incensed, the secretary approached the CEO with an ultimatum: “if you don’t get rid of her, I’ll leave.” So she left. When the man who replaced her took over, the patriarchy that underlies our office culture had us call him “head of the office” instead of secretary. But then he left too, for the same reasons. Thankfully, I happen to have an amicable working relationship with the RHW, who once gave me a slice of her leftover pizza. I also got her sister a cellphone charger. | The bad side is something our office secretaries have seen repeatedly. It’s probably why there emerges a vicious rivalry between any fresh-meat secretary and the RHW. We once had a particularly productive secretary who, office rumors had it, got into a nasty fight with the RHW. Incensed, the secretary approached the CEO with an ultimatum: “if you don’t get rid of her, I’ll leave.” So she left. When the man who replaced her took over, the patriarchy that underlies our office culture had us call him “head of the office” instead of secretary. But then he left too, for the same reasons. Thankfully, I happen to have an amicable working relationship with the RHW, who once gave me a slice of her leftover pizza. I also got her sister a cellphone charger. |
| The other prickly character is that mid-level manager no one seems to get along with. Most pass along his demands as “what Mr So-and-So wants,” often tail-ended with sneering comments as in, “sorry man, it’s not me, but Mr So-and-So said we need this [rather useless task] done by tomorrow.” One of our company’s most valuable employees was so agitated by Mr So-and-So’s belligerently demanding behavior, he specifically asked the CEO to “get him away from me.” And because this employee was involved in a highly sensitive project, it worked. Another employee - a college kid - was fired after he had a dispute with Mr So-and-So. Few people, I’ve realized, leave the company on good terms and in-fighting is the one of the main sources of brain-drain. | The other prickly character is that mid-level manager no one seems to get along with. Most pass along his demands as “what Mr So-and-So wants,” often tail-ended with sneering comments as in, “sorry man, it’s not me, but Mr So-and-So said we need this [rather useless task] done by tomorrow.” One of our company’s most valuable employees was so agitated by Mr So-and-So’s belligerently demanding behavior, he specifically asked the CEO to “get him away from me.” And because this employee was involved in a highly sensitive project, it worked. Another employee - a college kid - was fired after he had a dispute with Mr So-and-So. Few people, I’ve realized, leave the company on good terms and in-fighting is the one of the main sources of brain-drain. |
| Our work week runs from Saturday to Wednesday, because Friday is the day of prayer and Thursday…is the day before it. Government offices, schools, and many private companies are closed on these days. All this can make international trade a challenge because it means we can only do business with the rest of the world for three days. A lot of us who deal with international affairs might sometimes be expected to work the weekend, ie Thursday and Friday, and then wake up Saturday to a world that’s busy enjoying its own weekend. Some of the foreign companies we work with have kindly tried to accommodate our alien schedule. Amid all of this is chatter that the government once upon a time considered taking Friday and Saturday off so Iran would only lose one day of international trade. | Our work week runs from Saturday to Wednesday, because Friday is the day of prayer and Thursday…is the day before it. Government offices, schools, and many private companies are closed on these days. All this can make international trade a challenge because it means we can only do business with the rest of the world for three days. A lot of us who deal with international affairs might sometimes be expected to work the weekend, ie Thursday and Friday, and then wake up Saturday to a world that’s busy enjoying its own weekend. Some of the foreign companies we work with have kindly tried to accommodate our alien schedule. Amid all of this is chatter that the government once upon a time considered taking Friday and Saturday off so Iran would only lose one day of international trade. |
| Related: How to succeed in Iran: lessons from Russia and China | Related: How to succeed in Iran: lessons from Russia and China |
| For a while, most internal office communication took place on Viber as opposed to an @company.com account. Meetings, tasks, and company-wide messages were all communicated through the purple mobile messaging service, which is still Iran’s most popular. But Viber is no longer as snappy as it used to be, so my coworkers and I are slowly migrating to What’sApp and Telegram. I sometimes wonder how Iranians will get Mastercards to pay the $1 What’sApp fee after their first (free) year is up. | For a while, most internal office communication took place on Viber as opposed to an @company.com account. Meetings, tasks, and company-wide messages were all communicated through the purple mobile messaging service, which is still Iran’s most popular. But Viber is no longer as snappy as it used to be, so my coworkers and I are slowly migrating to What’sApp and Telegram. I sometimes wonder how Iranians will get Mastercards to pay the $1 What’sApp fee after their first (free) year is up. |
| The Iranian parliament’s research center estimates that at most, the amount of “useful work” that a typical Iranian office worker accomplishes in a single eight-hour day is around two hours’ worth. (By contrast, administrative employees in the public sector are estimated to perform a total of 22 minutes of actual work per day.) | The Iranian parliament’s research center estimates that at most, the amount of “useful work” that a typical Iranian office worker accomplishes in a single eight-hour day is around two hours’ worth. (By contrast, administrative employees in the public sector are estimated to perform a total of 22 minutes of actual work per day.) |
| I don’t see the former as an accurate estimate of the administrative staff at our office, even if it isn’t the leanest, meanest business machine. Yes, bureaucratic excess is as painful as it is elsewhere and multi-hour meetings often end on tangents. And sure, there are near-constant smoke-breaks, hallway chats, Facebook browsing (on the company-provided VPN connection), and the opium of the masses that is Clash of Clans, the popular mobile game. But a lot of meaningful work still gets done. It’s why the company has stayed afloat all these years. | I don’t see the former as an accurate estimate of the administrative staff at our office, even if it isn’t the leanest, meanest business machine. Yes, bureaucratic excess is as painful as it is elsewhere and multi-hour meetings often end on tangents. And sure, there are near-constant smoke-breaks, hallway chats, Facebook browsing (on the company-provided VPN connection), and the opium of the masses that is Clash of Clans, the popular mobile game. But a lot of meaningful work still gets done. It’s why the company has stayed afloat all these years. |
| A lot is out of our hands. Some days, if our internet connection doesn’t just up and die, it’ll slow down to the point of being unusable. Or VPN connections will stop working. Iran’s internet filters prevent some sites’ HTML from being loaded properly, so even uncensored pages can be difficult to read without circumventing the otherwise petty Firewall of Iran. | A lot is out of our hands. Some days, if our internet connection doesn’t just up and die, it’ll slow down to the point of being unusable. Or VPN connections will stop working. Iran’s internet filters prevent some sites’ HTML from being loaded properly, so even uncensored pages can be difficult to read without circumventing the otherwise petty Firewall of Iran. |
| Related: Why finding a flat in Tehran is as hard as in London and NYC | Related: Why finding a flat in Tehran is as hard as in London and NYC |
| Converting your salary to dollars might obliterate your incentive to work. But we do it anyway. The college kid who worked across from me made the equivalent of $180 a month. And eavesdropping had me know that bringing a college-educated translator on board would cost somewhere around $350 to $400. Yet regular employees, who I assume must be making a bit more than that amount, own factory-unlocked iPhones, fancy tablets, and reasonably pricey middle class cars. I think it’s because a lot of unmarried professionals live with their parents. Iran’s sluggish economic growth has allowed extended-family life to endure if only because these kinds of salaries aren’t enough to live out the yuppie lifestyle on your own (Hell, I live with my grandma). The family safety net helps meagre incomes go a long way in keeping Iran’s inextinguishable consumer culture alive. | Converting your salary to dollars might obliterate your incentive to work. But we do it anyway. The college kid who worked across from me made the equivalent of $180 a month. And eavesdropping had me know that bringing a college-educated translator on board would cost somewhere around $350 to $400. Yet regular employees, who I assume must be making a bit more than that amount, own factory-unlocked iPhones, fancy tablets, and reasonably pricey middle class cars. I think it’s because a lot of unmarried professionals live with their parents. Iran’s sluggish economic growth has allowed extended-family life to endure if only because these kinds of salaries aren’t enough to live out the yuppie lifestyle on your own (Hell, I live with my grandma). The family safety net helps meagre incomes go a long way in keeping Iran’s inextinguishable consumer culture alive. |
| Related: Making the case for Iranian tea | Related: Making the case for Iranian tea |
| There are perks. Tea and sugar cubes are on the house, delivered straight to your desk by the Tea People. When something good happens to someone - like when one of our project managers got pregnant - they usually buy sweets or ice cream for the entire building. And lunch is on the company, prepared by the Tea People, but some order takeout when it’s impervious to digestion. This is especially true for kebab day, when even the CEO prefers bread and cheese. But I love kebab day. If enough people bail, the Tea People, whom I’ve thoroughly befriended, plop extra skewers on top of my rice. | There are perks. Tea and sugar cubes are on the house, delivered straight to your desk by the Tea People. When something good happens to someone - like when one of our project managers got pregnant - they usually buy sweets or ice cream for the entire building. And lunch is on the company, prepared by the Tea People, but some order takeout when it’s impervious to digestion. This is especially true for kebab day, when even the CEO prefers bread and cheese. But I love kebab day. If enough people bail, the Tea People, whom I’ve thoroughly befriended, plop extra skewers on top of my rice. |
| At lunch, I for some time enjoyed the company of a chain-smoker who assaults his food with the communal saltshaker. After switching desks, I started eating with a group of female 20-somethings. Our conversations have involved ruminations on what pork tastes like, the god-awful Turkish soap operas on satellite TV, and France’s strict devotion to laïcité (for this topic, the lunch table broke into French nationalists defending the hijab ban in public places and those who argued it’s no different than what the Islamic republic does). None of them wear the standard-issue schoolgirl wimple and instead opt for the casual headscarf they normally wear outside. | At lunch, I for some time enjoyed the company of a chain-smoker who assaults his food with the communal saltshaker. After switching desks, I started eating with a group of female 20-somethings. Our conversations have involved ruminations on what pork tastes like, the god-awful Turkish soap operas on satellite TV, and France’s strict devotion to laïcité (for this topic, the lunch table broke into French nationalists defending the hijab ban in public places and those who argued it’s no different than what the Islamic republic does). None of them wear the standard-issue schoolgirl wimple and instead opt for the casual headscarf they normally wear outside. |
| I’ve struggled to find framed photos of Iran’s two supreme leaders, which are common in most offices for the usual reasons (private companies want to win brownie points; the public sector has no choice). | I’ve struggled to find framed photos of Iran’s two supreme leaders, which are common in most offices for the usual reasons (private companies want to win brownie points; the public sector has no choice). |
| But there is one hanging in the prayer room, a room few at the office have actually seen. For a company that employs scores of people, no one on the ground floor prays, four people on the second floor do, one person on the third, and I’d assume a couple on the fourth. I guess that’s why the prayer room is no bigger than a walk-in closet. Maybe years ago it actually was a walk-in closet. | But there is one hanging in the prayer room, a room few at the office have actually seen. For a company that employs scores of people, no one on the ground floor prays, four people on the second floor do, one person on the third, and I’d assume a couple on the fourth. I guess that’s why the prayer room is no bigger than a walk-in closet. Maybe years ago it actually was a walk-in closet. |
| The Tehran Bureau is an independent media organisation, hosted by the Guardian. Contact us @tehranbureau. This article was originally published without a byline |
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