It’s time to get back to the office

It’s time to get back to the office - writes Andy Mitchell

There was a time when the idea of working from home was a bit of a novelty. It was a chance to escape the politics of the office, come and go as you please when you would normally be watching the familiar games of trying to get one up on work colleagues, whilst impressing in the latest sharp blue suit and attitude.

For many, working from home was a dream come true. I have to confess that when I was told I was reading Radio Wave’s news bulletins from my own studio in Fleetwood I just loved the idea of finally broadcasting to the Fylde coast from my bedroom, a secret yearning I’d harboured since 1978.

After a year, the novelty has worn off. The desire to get back to seeing mates at work is strong. We are a gregarious bunch who thrive on the structure of going to work, and coming home again.

For this is the issue. For those who want to continue working from home. What is being at home, and what is being at work?

We hear the latest buzz phrases about work/life balance, but how do you achieve that when you’ve converted your dining room into the accounts office?

I’m not surprised organisations are happy to have their staff working from home. Why should they put their lights and heating on, fill up the toner and paper in their printers and ultimately have to rent office space at all, when their eager staff are willing to pay for it all themselves at no cost to the boss?

Yes it’s been lovely to try it out this year, and yes maybe there is the flexibility to work from home on occasion, but I believe we all need to get back to the office.

The final issue to consider, of course, is the one that may have already occurred to the company.

There you are, all set up in the dining room, your computer linked to the world. You may never need to leave the house again.

Yet if you can run your boss’s company at your expense from the dining room table in Bispham, is there not a fear that one day it could be done even cheaper from a dining room table abroad?

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