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The outcome of Orange's Connected Britain debate on the future of business working will have wizened old men spluttering into their local ales up and down the land after the panel said they thought that in the future we'll all be working from the pub.
Okay, it wasn't quite that specific, but the idea of "pub hubs" was touted by futurologist James Bellini as a way in which the development of Wi-Fi in communities could influence the future of work.
"Connectivity doesn't mean the end of social interaction; it's a way of enhancing it. By eliminating the dreaded commute on which 4.6 million hours are spent daily people could use the time for more productive purposes. Why not Wi-Fi enable the village hall or the local pub and provide places for people to hot-desk?" he said.
Well, because beer is rarely conducive to a productive working day James, although judging by your surname, you're no stranger to a tipple now and again.
The event, held at the London Transport Museum, also featured Janet Street-Porter (joy) who said she thought the days of office working were numbered. She added that she thought in 50 years times we'd look back at office working as something that seemed "really weird". And somehow you can almost hear her saying that can't you?
Robert Ainger from Orange also thought that home working would grow and as such said it was important that management kept pace with this change and found ways of measuring the value of letting people work from home.
"Increasing numbers of us don't work in the same office, building or even part of the country as our bosses - universal connectivity makes working from anywhere a reality, and management skills need to keep up," he said.
The thing is though, would you really want your local pub, that retreat from the fast paced, 24/7, ever-encroaching modern world, where time stands still and the barmaid always has a smile ready for you, turned into your office? No, thought not.
10 Feb 2010
