Leader: What can we learn from working at home?

National Working From Home Day - today - is nearly over for 2007 but it will be interesting to see what legacy it leaves.

Given every day seems to be 'national this, that or the other day' - from non-smoking to wearing jeans to work - there's a chance its good intentions will fizzle out like so many other initiatives. But if it proves the catalyst for a serious rethink on working from home and the role it must play in modern business then that will be a standout achievement.

silicon.com journalists all entered into the spirit of things and worked from home today. This is not a case of reinventing the wheel for us because the nature of a journalist's job means we are always popping up in locations around the world and need to be connected to the office and to tools such as our content management system from afar.

However, to have nobody in the office at all is something we've only done once before - on 8 July 2005, the day after the London bombing. It proved a useful exercise in testing not only whether working from home is good for the soul but also how we would work if coming into the office wasn't an option.

What are your thoughts?

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Technologies such as IM, VoIP and VPNs, and kit such as laptops and mobile phones, means few office workers need to be constantly chained to their desk anymore. And with the growing popularity of collaboration, productivity and remote access tools from the likes of Citrix Online, Google and WebEx, the amount of time we need to be in the office is decreasing all the time.

All that's missing is the right culture to make this happen. Working from home is still seen as a perk by many and in some quarters is regarded as being just a short step up from having the day off.

Working from home, so goes the joke, begins with BBC Breakfast News and ends with The Simpsons on Channel 4, taking in Bargain Hunt, a pub lunch and an afternoon nap along the way.

The truth couldn't be more different. Anecdotally it seems people working from home tend to put in longer hours. Many struggle to find a logical end to the working day and, by and large, bosses get more perspiration for their remuneration.

However, that too is counterintuitive. If employees are to enjoy the elusive work/life balance upside that working from home is supposed to deliver they must learn to log off and manage their time so they do get the benefits.

A lot more openness is needed to effect this cultural change. Work is hard enough without employees feeling they also need to fight against their own guilt or anybody else's misconceptions.

If National Working From Home Day achieves one thing, it will hopefully be that businesses are encouraged to look not only at whether they can - and should - encourage homeworking but whether they are doing enough to create a culture where it is accepted and respected.