Leader: Is mobile working really so great?

Commuting to work can be more stressful than a fighter pilot going into combat or a policeman facing a mob riot, according to a new study which received much press attention today.

But so what? That's probably no great revelation to a large number of silicon.com readers, and is certainly backed up by the London commuting experiences of the silicon.com editorial team.

A look at the sponsor of the research gives you a clue. The study was backed by HP, which had an ulterior motive in promoting the health-related benefits of kitting out employees with technology to allow them to work remotely and from home more.

A separate piece of research today, backed by Microsoft and the London School of Economics, also focused on the "key success factors" for mobile productivity.

After deciphering the kind of pseudo-management speak that The Office's David Brent would have been proud of, one of the underlying themes of the research appeared to suggest that people need to open themselves up to being contacted by more people, more often through new communications technologies.

Indeed the author of the piece, Dr Carsten Sorensen from the LSE, warned: "White collar workers will have to realise they are blue collar workers in the 21st century."

Undoubtedly the use of technology by corporations to facilitate mobile and flexible working has largely been a positive development for staff and the productivity of UK Plc. At a briefing for the launch of the mobile productivity report today, Microsoft UK MD Alistair Baker said up to 40 per cent of Microsoft's Reading campus workers may be out visiting clients or partners at any one time of the day.

But the intrusive nature of an 'always on' culture has its downsides too. Research has consistently shown that those who work from home put in longer hours than they would if they had been in the office. And how many of us use our wirelessly-enabled laptops, PDAs, Blackberrys, mobile phones and broadband PCs to check work emails long into the night and over weekends?

Commuting and the old nine-to-five desk-based existence may well be stressful but we also need to think more carefully about how we are going to maintain worker wellness in this 'always on' corporate culture.