Is working from home becoming the norm, as more and more people end their daily commute by simply crawling out of bed and turning on the computer? Or are people simply preparing for the winter months, when the car has no intention of going anywhere, stuck in six inches of snow? Or could it be something else?
With the London Olympic Games fast approaching, many people are increasingly buying office furniture to get ready for home working to avoid the mad chaotic rush – made even worse by thousands of tourists trying to get their bearings.
Retail commercial property John Lewis has reported an increase in office furniture of 14 per cent, when compared to the same time last year. The sales include desks, chairs, computer equipment and desk tidies, just to name a few.
Although the increase has been felt all over the UK, the demand has been significantly greater in and around the London area. Speaking of the sales, Sally Hudson, spokeswomen for John Lewis, said: “We’ve seen more and more of our customers getting their homes ready for home-working – either for the Olympics, or longer term.
“Despite the advent of laptop computers and Wi-Fi, most of us still require a designated work station in order to work from home productively.”
Last month it was reported that 2.43 million people now run a business from home, and the number of workers registered as self employed has increased by 28 per cent in the last decade. Speaking of the figures, Jim Plunkett-Cole, Principal Analyst from Smart Growth Analytics, stated: “The findings demonstrate the economic importance of home offices in regional economies across the country.
“They begin to help us understand the increasingly important home-based economic functionality of the more rural and residential areas outside of London.”
In addition, research also revealed that two-thirds of people who work from a home office are men, as Tim Dwelly, Director of the Workhubs, said: “More and more men are choosing to be their own bosses, based in their own environment, in preference to commuting and working on someone else’s terms.”
Do you work from a home office, or do you prefer working from the more traditional commercial property?
