It's quite topical for me: I am heavily involved in my company's first, tentative steps on a policy approach to 'Agile Working'. A recognition that our corporate estate is costing us a fortune every year, that technology is freeing people from the single desk they used to occupy and that many people are more productive when allowed to work to their own pattern, in their own choice of location. Inevitably we're going to have to battle with a degree of entrenched mistrust - some managers will never be convinced that having people working away from their beady oversight is a positive step - but the move to having many more people than desks has been on the cards for a while. When major competitors are operating on a 50% ratio, we have no choice but to follow suit.
And, personally, I'm all for it: I'd hate to work at home all the time (and my role wouldn't suit it anyhow) but, if I need to get my head down, I'll do so far more effectively in my attic than at a desk in Leatherhead. When we first moved here I bagsied this room for exactly that purpose and, over the years, have kitted it out to a better standard than any office I've worked in. Two widescreen monitors are a must as is, arguably, a good colour laser printer. The remainder of the list is where it all begins to go a bit stockings and suspenders... Because I also have:
A flatbed scanner A sheet feed scanner (wonderful) Two types of staple remover | A spiral-binding machine A thermal laminator Two sizes of hole punch | A guillotine A slide paper-cutter A range of stationery that would shame Rymans |
Have some pictures. I may have dicked about with them a tad. To make them more interesting like.