Changing Places of Work

This chapter explores work performed outside of the traditional workplace. It considers the workplaces of contemporary developed societies, including the impacts of trends in work which have created greater scope for flexibility and diversity in workplace. The chapter discusses the closely tied relationship between work-related travel and our places of work, including working during travel and incidence of long-distance commuting. Structural changes in the economies of developed societies, including the dominant share of services, have driven a growing polarisation in the labour market. Changes in the labour market in recent decades have driven an increase in the incidence of homeworking, in particular in the form of home-based teleworking. The growth in entrepreneurial and self-managed work has created demand for shared or co-working spaces. The relationship between workplace and residential location is likely to remain relatively consistent with current observations, in part as a result of the slow-changing nature of the housing market.