November 11th, 2009 by Bruce

It’s not exactly a new concept this, arguably common option, to work from home. As such, one would expect that seeing an opportunity, residential products, services, design and even homes would have begun to adapt to the ever increasing requests of a growing body of possible customers who would like to work from home. These people who are working in an Internet Business through online jobs have a requirement for an setting that suits their everyday life 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 fair to say that the offer is fragmented and it takes a level of skill in construction, IT and ergonomics to produce a suitable domestic setting from which one could run an internet organisation. Most people only manage to offer a small amount of the facilities necessary to be comfortable and dynamic.

The brief for a domestic office set up should be generally similar to that of a normal office or corporate workspace. A resident worker needs power, data and a place to sit and a surface to work on as a bare minimum. Add into that the requirement for social interaction, ad hoc meetings, team work and areas for focussed working and the brief starts to look very similar.

The easy and least productive answer to meeting these requirements is to provide a desk, seat, pc, telephone and data connection. On the face of it these pieces 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 ordinary domestic situation would a desk be an appropriate piece of furniture ? Technology gives us laptops and telephone headsets and the ability to work anywhere on any fixtures. Add to that wireless printing and a web cam and really the office, as was, is now built totally around the person as opposed to a location.

Of course, in these days of corporate responsibility, the idea of using a laptop for long periods of time would give Human Resource and Insurance teams a problem, but the reality is that what we have through technology is a new concept and what we would expect to see is new furniture designs 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 encouraging to productive work. Will we begin to see new homes provided with separate space for working? Possibly dealt with as an extension, a loft or even a stand alone unit in the garden.

Whatever the ideas the market is there already and the design industry has yet to react to it.

Business, desk, Ergonomics, furniture technology, home, Human resources, internet organisation, office, piece of furniture, Technology, Telecommunication, Telecommuting, Telephone, telephone headsets, work