By 2012 5.5 million people in the UK will be working from home, according to the latest research from the Future Laboratory, commissioned by Microsoft.
A big number for sure, but …
By 2012 5.5 million people in the UK will be working from home, according to the latest research from the Future Laboratory, commissioned by Microsoft.
A big number for sure, but only a relatively small proportion of the 91% interviewed who said they’d rather escape the office to work from home, or perhaps outdoors.
Outdoors working is one thing, but unless global warming takes a dramatic turn for the worse, you’d have to be out of your proverbial to set up office in an open plan tree house. But that’s not stopped Microsoft from doing just that to show off the advantages of mobile working!
If you want to find out more, then head over to their blog at http://moof.mobi/, which at time of writing seems to have fallen out of its tree with a server error, but will hopefully be back up by the time you read this.
Although treeworking is unlikely to catch on, this story does highlight a serious trend. Only last week HSBC announced it expected half (4,000) of its Canary Wharf HQ staff to be working from home or on the road by 2014.
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Working outdoors would be great in summer but when I tried my laptop outside it was near impossible to see the screen.
You’re damn right, Phil! And haven’t screens become more shiny or is that my imagination? That glassy sheen seems all the rage, but it does nothing for the ‘dream’ of working from the beech or is it the beach?
Ideally you’d need something over your head to block out the sun and perhaps something around you to stop the wind. I think they’re called rooms.
Working outside is great in the summer… if you can see the laptop screen!