The CPA Australia Information Technology and Management Centre of Excellence is currently sponsoring research into Telework – which is essentially telecommuting. One of the things that people frequently don’t realise is that, as an employer, when they have staff working from home there is some element of responsibility for the environment of work in which that person is working.
As a little bit of fun, Jan Barned (the CoE’s policy advisor) and I swapped photos of offices. Although I won’t publish Jan’s photo here, she essentially has a purpose-built arrangement for the office, and it looks very usable.
I’ve also invested some time (and expense) into setting my office up to be comfortable for when I work from home. Although it is a converted bedroom, it’s functional, spacious, light and airy, and has mostly everything I need (in particular, I can make a coffee pretty darn quickly, which is paramount).
I give you, the avid reader, my office in all its glory:
Please note that I am not saying that this is best practice for someone setting up their office. Those cd racks look like they could fall any minute, and my boomerang on the top of the bookshelf constantly threatens to do its job and brain me (that’s a memento from an international conference I attended for Horwath in 2001 – and of course it was held in of all places, Sydney!).
See my qualifications on the wall? Someone should – CPA Australia qualification and my degree, and it the other wall I set a mural wallpaper I got online so the office can look beautiful as well. The President’s award, though, is not being treated well – after four years it is still in the toast-rack on top of my desk.
Out to the pool – I did say it was light and airy. The pool filter can turn on at inopportune times though.
It looks even more spacious from the pool.
That Hewlett Packard L7500 printer sure uses a lot of ink. Expensive ink.
Everything at my fingertips in my office/manroom.