If you’re in the office today, what are you doing?  Leave at lunchtime, head for your kitchen table, laptop in hand, and start working from home for the rest of the afternoon.

Today, is of course, National Work From Home Day, part of a week of activities run by Work Wise UK, a non-profit organisation that aims to encourage smarter working practices.  It’s got the support of the likes of BT, the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce and many others.

Everyone who works on SmallBizPod does so from a home office, so we’re all very familiar with the joys and pitfalls of life as a home worker.  But it makes a lot of sense, both in terms of work-life balance and cost effectiveness.  It also has significant implications for employees and their managers.  As Guy Clapperton mentioned on this blog a little while ago:

The prevalence of home working means managing people by their presence is going to be a thing of the past shortly anyway - managers will have to reward and manage by outcomes.

It’s blatantly obvious that not everyone can work from home, but the success of companies such as Travel Counsellors, which employs thousands of work from home travel agents, is a good example of where this is all heading.

Odd then that a well known, VC funded blogging network, has reportedly just moved into plush new offices in Covent Garden.  You have to ask, why?