I have used the Regus business lounges and yes, some of them are really quiet. But some are bustling with activity. It seems that the lounges really reflect the environment. A downtown Regus seems have more movement, more people hanging out around the television or talking in the halls than one in suburbs.

Lainika, Phoenix, USA

I agree. I have recently started writing a blog and find myself 'working' what would have previously been unreasonable hours. I enjoy it but can see how it can disrupt almost everything. I have to force myself not to sit at my laptop for 12 hours at a time. The problem is isolation - the need to be around people but yet not wanting to work in the confines of an office ever again - too much politricking for my liking.
www.blackwomanthinks.blogspot.com

Zee Harrison, London, England

An amusing article, but Sathnam Sanghera does not mention the obvious fact that people differ - and so their preferred working environments. As an introvert who likes to concentrate deeply on what I'm doing, I love working at home. I save at least 3 hours a day, as my commute takes 10 seconds (climbing the stairs). That also makes a big contribution to reducing my CO2 footprint and energy usage, and frees up roadspace or railway seats for others.

Many of the problems he mentions are simply due to lack of self-discipline. No one forces you to work in leisure pants or your pyjamas, to play air guitar, or not to wash (yeghh). As for lack of IT support, you can learn how computers work to an adequate level in a few days, just in the time you don't have to spend commuting. The Web is a superb resource for free support - but it is a useful tip always to have at least one spare computer that lets you browse the Web even if you've managed to render your work PC unusable.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Absolutely agree, its tough working from home, especially if you enjoy interaction with other people. Also the headache of having small childern around does not make things easier. After 6 years of home working I am returning to the office. It does appear great the freedom of working from home, but you have to be extremely well disciplined and a loner!

Eamonn, Motherwell, Scotland

I've been working from home for over a year now. My experience was it was very hard at the beginning. I had set up a bedroom like an office with pc, fax phone, printer, broadband and have contingency in case of hardware failures. Getting the mental discipline to do work rather than let yourself wander wasnt easy either. The upside is I am much less stressed than if I was doing the same work in an office. I have longer time to do it because I don't have to travel/get dressed for work and I can stretch it out during the day instead of 9-5. I write software for the finance sector.

W Lee, london,

There will be more "home working" whether you want it or not, as large companies come to realise that with hot-desking and modern technology, they only have to rent, say, 50% of the office space they used to in the past.

I don't expect the firms will pass on their rent savings to employees as rent for using their homes as offices, though!

David, London,

very good article i am glad i am not on my own
elasticated trousers so true.
i work in shanghai from home and deal with america so the twelve hours time diffrence means i work two days rolled into one.

kurtz, shanghai, china

I write this from one of the many Starbuck's on my normal circuit.
I count myself as one of the unfortunate masses that do try to eke out a semblance of a workspace at the nearest cafe.
Great article!
I love your plea to stay in the workplace. There's a real strata of workplace needs and finding just the right level of distraction so as to not be distracting is a challenge. The Office (to our dismay may have it right)
Surmounting that moral challenge of what amount of rent one must pay in coffee and muffins is all too real.
I wonder though, about the strata of office substitutes. I like working in a public space, even if I am not interacting directly with other people. I like having them around. But control over level of interaction becomes a primary concern. A transient business lounge may allow for avoiding incidental interaction, whereas a more frequented and friendly cafe can lead to too much familiarity. Mobile workers walk a fine line and have to pick and choose.

Shawn Day, Hamilton, Canada

I don't think you should ignore the cost of commuting which is forcing companies to rethink their attitude to home working. For many years I commuted 3 hours a day which at a minimum was costing £8000 gross a year. You factor in that you might be paying 40% tax on this and the economics don't stack up. Like it or not home working is here to stay, the only people against it are managers who find that they have fewer people to manage and the prospect of declining responsibilities.

Mike, Ipswich, Suffolk

I'm a remote worker, and I'd never go back to regular office work. I escaped from the south of ENgland to the north of Scotland, and the commute to my own office is 2 minutes, and 100 yds, rather than 2 hours and 65 miles.

I have a large office all to myself, with a big window offering a view out to the Orkneys on a clear day; on a damp day, I can see the rainclouds rushing in over the North Altantic -- it is never boring, and it is not a view over a carpark! And the office costs me far less than I used to pay simply to get to work, where I'd inhabit a desk in a room lit by flickering fluorescent light, with inefficient air-conditoning recycling the same old air day after day. I have fresh sea air now, if I open the window!

One does find the working hours becoming less rigid, but if I feel like a round of golf one afternoon, that's up to me -- the balance suits me. My stress levels are way down on what they were.

Remote working may not be for everyone -- but it has worked for me.

David Rees, Durness, Scotland

I'm a student of law and I'm trying to drop the habit of working on my own.
In fact, working at home in "leisure pants" is comfortable, it is also great to make break for sports whenever you like and it seems an enormous economical benefit to get a much better coffe than in any starbucks anytime. But there's a downside which I sorely underestimated:
You get unable to adjust to others' day cicles and start to desocialize. I'm used to eat exactly when I'm hungry, I'm working on in the evening if I did not complete my schedule during the day, dropping evening activities. Standing around just waiting for the 4th guy to finally arrive or go for a coffe when you actually fell like going in an hour or two soonest seems a waste of time and personal benefit. Moreover, if you once loose your discipline, there's no boss and no colleages to get you back in line. So I'm making my way back to the library, and gosh, it's hard but you just feel better with the others around.

K. Raynor, Heidelberg, Germany

I have read this article and It is very interesting. I work every monday to friday (and some satuday) stting down at the office for more then 9 hours. Sometimes I have thought if working at home it is better than working at the office. And my conclusion is I need work in an anviromental work space, listening the phone rings, talking to my partners, my boss, the customers. Home it is to enjoy me watching films, cooking,sleeping, dreaming... I think people needs to separate phisically work spaces and "life spaces" to disconnect out of work time. This reduce the high stress level in wich we live. Living at the work is insane.

(Excuse my english level). Thanks.

Juan Jesus Gallardo Bernal, Chiclana (Cádiz), Spain

Nice one!

charlie, wolverhampton, UK

Samuel Young wrote:

"I'm a translator, working from home, and i'm reading this, dressed in my working pyjamas (i also have a sleeping pyjamas) at 2am in the morning."

Ha-ha, working pyjamas, Ilike it!

Russ Turner, Towcester,, England.

Good article but the quietude of working from home/remote working I find helpful, if you want to get on. There are arguments either way but the way commuting/travelling is now in the UK, the time wasted, not to say resources, then I think it will become a blessing for more and more of us.

You've only got to look at the motorways, I mean they are now blocked solid and the hard shoulder has become an extra lane, and from that perspective the country can't continue to expand. And then there's global warming.....

Home worker, Conwy,

A really interesting and entertaining article.

But picking a work pattern need not be an "all or nothing" decision. Mobile workers need different environments and resources to be productive at various times. One can combine home work, with work clubs, with office visits and with Starbuck excursions.

At Habitaz in South Africa , which is based on a coommercial "work club" model - we have many virtual office and "work-from-home" customers, and the workspace includes a combination of quiet private spaces and vibey Cafe areas (with lotsa background noise, CNN or Sky News mostly), Airport Lounges etc. where the freshly ground coffee is free. We have an IT and desktop support call centre to support "Citizens" and have frequent visits from lonely home workers, but who return home when the type of work requires it (or the kids leave for school!).

Andre Sharpe
Co-Founder and CEO
Habitaz Global Workspaces

P.S. We have 3G reception on our corn fields in SA! :)

Andre Sharpe, Johannesburg, South Africa

I think you would moan about the office if you had to work there too! I have worked from home for 10 years and all my team work from home. Homeworking Rocks!

Kirsten, Somerset, UK

I'm a translator, working from home, and i'm reading this, dressed in my working pyjamas (i also have a sleeping pyjamas) at 2am in the morning. So, yes, i know what you mean.

Samuel Young, Paris, France