In 1930, ‘father of modern economics’ Keynes predicted that technology would eventually lead to a 15-hour working week. When I started my working life most of us assumed we’d be retiring at 50, as by we’d by then be beyond both 1984 and 2001, woul be living on the Moon, flying to Jupiter and be fed by computers instead of celebrity chefs. In reality we’re all working both longer hours and into old age. All that technology has made us want more stuff and more technology and the great ‘working from home’ pandemic-revolution is already faltering. So maybe doing more in four days and actually doing other stuff for three is the answer. As well as (note to self) learning to ‘just say no’.
“The working-from-home illusion fades”
Are workers working from home more or less productive than those catching the 7.02am to London Bridge every day? ‘Probably sitting at home in their bleedin’ jim-jams’, said someone recently of a less-than-helpful call centre employee, the assumption being that, were they surrounded by colleagues and with a manager cracking the whip, he or she would have sorted his energy bill more efficiently.
