Productivity boost… or just snowed under?

Today I have conducted a fascinating experiment. London is covered in up to a foot of snow. Buses have stopped running. The underground train system has been disrupted. Since my physical presence was not really required in the office, I have worked from home.

Here are my findings. On the plus side:

You don’t have to shave.
You can wear unbelievably awful clothes (bad even by the standards colleagues have come to expect from me).
You can have lunch with your spouse and children.

On the negative side:

You are constantly available “just for a minute” to help out on household chores, childcare etc.
You have to suspend office brusqueness and engage other people in civilised conversation.
You can daydream and delay without the shame of getting caught doing it.

Conclusion: Working from home? Not always quite what it is cracked up to be.



About the authors

Stefan Stern writes a column on Tuesdays on management. He is winner of the 2010 Towers Watson award for excellence in HR journalism, and has previously won awards from the Work Foundation and the Management Consultancies Association.

Ravi Mattu is the editor of Business Life, the FT's management features section, and a former editor of the Mastering Management series. He joined the FT in 2000 from Prospect magazine

This blog is no longer active but it remains open as an archive.

Twitter feed

RSS feed

The FT’s management blog: a guide

Commenting: We welcome your comments. You need to be registered with FT.com to comment; you can register for free here. Please also see our comments policy here.
Contacting us: You can reach us using this email format: first.surname@ft.com
Timing: UK time is shown on our posts.
Follow us: Links to our Twitter and RSS feeds are at the top of the blog. You can also read us on your mobile device, by going to www.ft.com/managementblog
FT blogs: See the full range of the FT's blogs here.

Elsewhere on FT.com: Lucy Kellaway

Lucy Kellaway writes a column on Mondays on work , poking fun at management fads and jargon and celebrating the ups and downs of office life. She is also the FT's Agony Aunt.

Elsewhere on FT.com: Luke Johnson

Luke Johnson writes an FT column on Wednesdays on entrepreneurship. He runs Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and is chairman of the Royal Society of Arts.

Elsewhere on FT.com: Dear Lucy

Lucy Kellaway, FT columnist and associate editor, offers her solution to your workplace problems in a column in the Financial Times. In the online edition of her Dear Lucy 'agony aunt' column, readers are invited to have a say too.

Featured blogs

Don Sull's blog

LBS academic blogs on leading in turbulent times

MBA blog

Students blog about their MBA experiences