The last 18 months or so have seen the roll out of fibre to the cabinet Broadband at 40-80mb and unlimited use packages of same. This makes it possible, with suitable software (which is now available from various sources) to work from home connecting in exactly the same way to all the office servers email and files, and, importantly, as quickly, as if you were in the office. Even video conferencing over such links is becoming feasible. Laptops have also got much lighter. Home telephones have unlimited landline use packages. All this means a person can work from home as efficiently as in an office (or more so), providing there is enough visits to the office for personal contact to sort things out that need personal contact.
Office rents, heating lighting and servicing are one of a companies biggest overheads. When the economic cycle turns again in another few years and companies need to pull in their horns, I think canning 75% of their office space will be too big a hanging fruit to be ignored.
Many people will be told to base themselves at home and when they have meetings, meet at coffee shops or on video conferences, perhaps travelling to employers premises once or twice a week. With this implemented it will then occur to employers "why am I paying someone to sit at home for 37.5 hours per week" and think "instead of paying them for hours worked I can pay them for work done and save a lot of money as I'm only paying them to do something"
I think this revolution will have started within a decade and the implications for white collar workers are huge.
For the railways the implications tooo are huge. Peak hour journeys will not disappear but they will drastically reduce in number. Conversely offpeak journeys will increase as people visit more for meetings or specific purposes.
The timetable and fare definitions between peak and offpeak will wither away and "commuter" franchises will need less trains but use them all day. Engineering works will also have the problem of no mid day "quiet period" for short maintenance work possessions.
If anything the railways may be more profitable because the flows are evened out, but I suspect the days of needing lots of extra capacity built on commuter routes may be coming to an end and we may see things like the Class 700s being modified to split them into two six car units as they are running round two thirds empty too much.
Office rents, heating lighting and servicing are one of a companies biggest overheads. When the economic cycle turns again in another few years and companies need to pull in their horns, I think canning 75% of their office space will be too big a hanging fruit to be ignored.
Many people will be told to base themselves at home and when they have meetings, meet at coffee shops or on video conferences, perhaps travelling to employers premises once or twice a week. With this implemented it will then occur to employers "why am I paying someone to sit at home for 37.5 hours per week" and think "instead of paying them for hours worked I can pay them for work done and save a lot of money as I'm only paying them to do something"
I think this revolution will have started within a decade and the implications for white collar workers are huge.
For the railways the implications tooo are huge. Peak hour journeys will not disappear but they will drastically reduce in number. Conversely offpeak journeys will increase as people visit more for meetings or specific purposes.
The timetable and fare definitions between peak and offpeak will wither away and "commuter" franchises will need less trains but use them all day. Engineering works will also have the problem of no mid day "quiet period" for short maintenance work possessions.
If anything the railways may be more profitable because the flows are evened out, but I suspect the days of needing lots of extra capacity built on commuter routes may be coming to an end and we may see things like the Class 700s being modified to split them into two six car units as they are running round two thirds empty too much.