To work or not to work....from home

I work in an environment that follows something called an agile office policy. This means that you do not have a desk assigned to you. When you come to the office, you need to get hold of the first desk that you see in your department and for that entire day that particular desk becomes your desk. But when its time to go home you have to clear the desk of all your items ‘cause the next day that very desk might be used by someone else. Companies adopt agile office policy in order to save on space and the cost that it incurs.

While the above is the actual policy of the company, most of the employees have their own desks. A select few work from home and a fewer than that hot desk. Hot desks are empty desks in each department and anyone from any department can use them. When you have a UK office that has 900 odd employees and an office that can accommodate only 600, you do have to slip between working from home and office.

Anyway the point in concern here is me. I am territorial by nature; I need to have a desk with pictures of my son, a calendar, my large flat computer screen, a flask of hot water and a small make-up pouch on my table to even call it my workspace. It should be devoid of any dust with no clutter what-so-ever caused from paper piles. Phew too many requirements really; but not so today - it’s my first day at the new job and guess what? I do not have a desk; in fact I do not have a department at all. My department is based in a Western European Country and I work from the UK office – technically called a location free employee. So it’s no wonder that without a boss here no one really cares whether I come to the office or not.

Alright so I should work from home. But hang on I like dressing up for work in the morning, having lunch with my ex-colleagues and taking part in a bit of general gossip. Apart from these reasons, the frugal in me uses the company-gym daily which costs just £18 a month and also shops at the staff shop every week (its very very cheap I tell you!!).

The obvious solution would be to work a few days from home and the rest from work.  But you see I go to the gym 5 days a week and I just can't sacrifice that.  Now I am in a fix really – what should I do? Hang on the desk (by working from home. Yes, I do have a nice clean desk) or make use of what the company building has to offer – an almost free gym and staff shop.  Either way I lose...or a win perhaps?