the need to ‘go to’ work? The story of institutional refugees & how things need to change

The concept of a ‘workplace’ has evolved through capitalism, industrialisation, commercialism and urbanism. And it has changed. The key driver in that change has been technology and home computing – but are we using technology as well as we can to create functional new workplaces that replace the suit+commute model?

I attended a day at Pavilion Dance in Bournemouth on Wednesday convened by Claire Hodgson. An excellent speaker and cultural leader, she shared her personal perspective with an auditorium full of arts professionals. She referred to homeworkers as ‘workplace refugees’. Claire emphasised that she is a culture professional, woman, a mother and a daughter and those things are  all equal in her life. Why are our workplaces still shaped for a male dominated work culture? Why are jobs advertised as posts with fixed hours, fixed days, fixed job descriptions instead of task-led? Does a…