Yesterday I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as part of a special BT screening at the

Today is National Work From Home Day, so where are you working? I’ve been in the office all day but that’s not because I had to, it was more a case of choice. Plus, I noticed the tube and train here were less crowded and much more pleasant than usual. I vote for a National Work From Home Day every day to carry on the better commuting experience!

Seriously though, I recently wrote a feature for IT PRO looking at the issue of flexible and remote working and spoke to some businesses who’ve been doing it for years. They know the benefits for employers, employees and environment (the three es) alike and don’t need convincing or badgering from government or workers.

However, there are still many archaic companies out there who - with the caveat of those businesses for whom remote working is just not practical - rely on bums on seats to demonstrate productivity. The ‘if I can’t see you I don’t trust you’ mentality. Trust in any relationship, whether one base on friendship, professionalism or romance is the key to success. Break that trust or don’t have it to begin with and you’re doomed. It’s as simple as that.

So, where did you work from today and how does your boss feel about remote/flexible working?

Ok, so I commute on a train line that has recently introduced so-called ‘quiet carriages’ where you’re meant to refrain from using mobile phones, walkmans or creating unnecessary noise.
A good idea in theory. Unfortunately nobody (except seemingly myself and a few other considerate people) takes a blind bit of notice and freely uses such carriages to have a conversation for the entire journey on their mobiles, or blast out the latest crap from the Top 10 as loud as possible. Sleep is never an option in such carriages. Neither is reading a book. Neither is simply just being able to quietly enjoy the journey.
An elderly lady sitting by me on one of these carriages recently remarked that the posters and carriage door signs suggesting the zone was a quiet one was most likely the result of umpteen marketing meetings and brainstorm sessions at much expense to the company, no doubt recouped via ticketing costs. What a massive waste of money. And then some.
I go back to my earlier point regarding the mobile phone ghettoblaster-esque youth who inflicted his musical taste - or lack of it - on me last month. If rules are to work, they need to be enforced, otherwise people simply sh*t all over them, sticking two fingers up at the company and other human beings as they do so.
If you try traveling without a train ticket, you get fined. If you assault someone, you get arrested and potentially put in prison. Isn’t blatantly sitting in a quiet zone and being as noisy as you can be assaulting my hearing and peace and quiet? We go on about human rights… what about my right to some peace and quiet? I don’t want to travel in a library-like train where people are afraid to breathe or cough, but I do expect people to be a bit more courteous to others.
As the elderly woman remarked, in her day you didn’t need rules or signs as they had something called manners. Welcome to 2008. A sad state of affairs.