Hard-hitting IT columnist Simon Moores gives his personal take on
the hot issue of the day.Ever had one of those days? I'm sure you
have. There's a tube strike. The hamster has escaped and an
accident on the A3 is blocking any chance of getting the school run
finished before eight-thirty.
What am I supposed to do? For the first time in almost 20 years,
I've given up on the everyday struggle to reach the office. I've
begun working from home, surrounded by three PCs, two printers, two
phones and a fax machine.
In my battle to get to work on time, I left the car and started
using a motorcycle to travel to work, but now there's nowhere for
even bikes to park and parking wardens seem to hide behind every
tree.
At first I felt guilty about not commuting. "I should be in the
office, the business will collapse, this is skiving, and I should
be there," I worried. But, a month later, I'm wondering why I
wasted more than two hours each day as a desperate, angry tidal
creature, one of many fighting the unpredictability of London's
traffic and weather and arriving at work earlier and earlier in an
effort to beat the rush.
Being a telecommuter works for me. I start work now at 8am and I
finish much later, but far more flexibly. My meetings I block book
for two days a week and the technology does the rest for me. I'm
less stressed and more productive.
More and more large companies now hot-desk or have people working
from home. With cheap broadband connectivity now available, there's
very little reason for any company not to think about having staff
work remotely.
Perhaps the Government should encourage businesses to do just this
by offering some kind of tax break. After all, business is now
penalised for employee parking "benefits", and very soon driving
into London, which is impossible at the best of times, will be
taxed.
So here's my suggestion to the Chancellor for the next budget. Help
boost the knowledge economy through incentivising companies that
subsidise home broadband and teleworking practices. Get people off
the roads and on to e-mail. Let's use the technology that now makes
this possible instead of finding reasons to justify the living hell
of the Central Line.
And if anyone finds my daughter's hamster, he answers to the name
of Eric.
What is your view?
Would working from home make you and
your employees more productive?
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ZentelligenceSetting the world to rights with the collected thoughts and
opinions of the futurist writer, broadcaster and Computer Weekly
columnist Simon Moores.