It’s not exactly a new idea this, arguably common choice, to work from home. As such, one would imagine that seeing an opportunity, residential products, services, design and even homes would have started to adapt to the ever increasing needs of a swelling body of prospective customers who wish to work from home. These people who are working in an Internet Business through online jobs have a requirement for an environment that matches their lifestyle and their work needs too.

It’s true, there are a number of products on the market that are produced for those people who Work From Home but it’s reasonable to say that the offer is disjointed and it takes a level of skill in construction, IT and ergonomics to form a suitable domestic environment from which one could run an internet company. Most people only manage to offer a small amount of the facilities necessary to be comfortable and fruitful.

The brief for a home office set up should be largely similar to that of a normal office or corporate workspace. A resident staff member needs power, data and a place to sit and a surface to work on as a bare minimum. Add into that the need for social interaction, ad hoc meetings, cooperation and areas for detailed working and the brief starts to look very similar.

The easy and least productive answer to meeting these needs is to provide a desk, chair, pc, telephone and data connection. On the face of it these items of kit will provide the necessary vehicle in (or on, or through) which people can deliver their output. The real question is how does one provide for the rest of the criteria and how do we use advancements in construction and technology to support the requirements for people who work in Online Jobs?

Firstly, let’s deal with the workplace itself. Does it need to be a desk? In a usual domestic situation would a desk be a suitable piece of furniture ? Technology gives us laptops and telephone headsets and the capability to work anywhere on any fittings. Add to that wireless printing and a web cam and really the office, as was, is now built totally around the person in contrast to a location.

Of course, in these days of corporate responsibility, the idea of using a laptop for long periods of time would give Personnel and Insurance teams a problem, but the reality is that what we have through technology is a new idea and what we would expect to see is new furniture ideas to solve the ergonomic issues.

Secondly, there is the matter of privacy, sound and environmental comfort. A voice conference in a house full of playing children is not conducive to productive work. Will we begin to see new homes provided with remote space for working? Possibly offered as an extension, a loft or even a stand alone unit in the garage.

Whatever the answers the market is there already and the building industry has yet to react to it.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 11:39 am and is filed under Business and Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.