Working-from-home dream now a reality

Sunjit Patel is a graphic designer with a well known publishing company. He has lived in England since he was five. He lives in South London, and for the last three years he has been working from home. Sunjit isn’t alone. 【小题1】 In addition, about eight million people spend some time working in the home rather in an office. This is almost twice as many as ten years ago.

This rapidly-growing trend towards working from home is the same in many countries. But why? The main reason is technological: easy access to the Internet and the availability of phone and video-conferencing. These enable people to use their home as an office in an efficient and cost-effective way.

【小题2】 Office space is costly, so if an organization can reduce its workstations, it may be able to move to a smaller site. Employees often work better at home: travelling to work can be tiring and costs a lot time. Many homeworkers save a lot of time if they don’t travel to work and they can start the day fresher and there work more efficiently.

Sunjit Patel says, “I have been working from home since my son was born and have been really enjoying it. 【小题3】 I have known my boss and colleagues for a long time now, which really helps because you’ve got to trust each other. You also need to have regular contact, by phone, email or video conferences, and you need to make regular trips to your office. Otherwise you really miss out on the gossip and on the social side of work.”

【小题4】 This response to a survey on homeworking was recently posted on the Internet: ‘The only people who can work from home are those who do an unnecessary job. Can surgeons work from home? Ambulance drivers? If you can work from home full-time, you have a pointless job.’