I have mixed feelings about working from home. While without distraction I can get 10 hours work done in five I also not that a spend more time perfecting my work if no other priority is pressing. I usually also start and finish my day an hour earlier and later than I would if I travelled to work. However if I need to get my hair cut rather than wasting 90 minutes on a Saturday sitting in a barbers I can popup at lunch time and 20 minutes be back home. Take away all the stress, lost time travelling, cost of travelling etc and overall it looks like (and feels like) I’m doing OK.
From the companies perspective they (according the this article in the FT) have saved £220m over 10 years. £22m a year is not to be sniffed at but at what cost?
One of the things missing in this sterile working from home environment is the loss of that social interaction. The tea break and water cooler chats with people you would not have any work related reason to talk to. The innocent “so what are you up to these days” is that butterfly/chaos moment when worlds collide, ideas are shared and innovative sparks are made.
Without a doubt many of the changes have been good. Almost every telephone exchange had a bar in it, each would have a kids Christmas party, you could get a reasonable quality and priced meal at the staff canteen. Now no booze – probably a good thing, no kids Christmas party – probably a bad thing, no staff canteen – probably a bad thing. I say no staff canteen, but there are cafés where you can pay more for food than you can in M&S, but there is no reason to sit down and chat with anyone anymore.
The £220m not just less buildings it’s less innovation, evolutionary products rather than revolutionary. The company that has become defensive and reactive rather than the technological leader it was. They will probably end up paying a consultant more to tell them how to put it right.
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