The Changing Nature of Office Life

By the early 1900s the nature of office work was changing, largely due to advances in technology. Telephones and typewriters became more common in AMP's larger offices, as did new calculating machines. An early example was the arithmometer, a type of industrial calculating machine used to calculate large and complicated sums. It was cumbersome to operate but for difficult calculations needing more advanced multiplication and division, it could produce an answer much faster than a human. More useful were the next generation of machines that could also perform complicated addition. In the 1890s AMP’s actuary and general manager Richard Teece purchased a variety of different calculating machines for use by the Society including a Comptometer, Centigraph, Mahlstedt Machine and Millionaire Machine, but they ultimately remained a novelty rather than being in general use across offices.

In the 1920s many changes were instigated at AMP’s head office in Sydney, including the introduction of a punch card machine, copying machine, and Addressograph. The latter could print thousands of addresses on policyholder notices, which was very useful for a business that regularly printed thousands upon thousands of notices. Still, the typewriter continued to dominate the office landscape.

In 1956 three of AMP’s staff visited the United States on a technology fact-finding mission. They were impressed by the benefits of the computer and new electronic ways of processing information, which prompted the Society to establish a technology planning division to determine how to incorporate new technologies across the Society (Blainey, 1999).  

In 1958 AMP introduced its first ever computer, the IBM 650. The machine was enormous and occupied almost an entire room at head office. It was hoped the IBM 650 would revolutionise the way calculations were undertaken, but it was much slower than expected and needed to be operated at least 80 hours per week to complete the work required, with an employee always present. It was, however, still quicker than the traditional manual method.

By 1965 AMP acquired three computers – one for each of the offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Wellington. These were particularly useful in churning out thousands of annual bonus certificates to policyholders.

Interestingly, the new use of technology did not reduce the need for staff, and in fact staff numbers increased significantly between the mid and late 1900s.