LOG III

READING

Various studies on work suggest that eighty per cent of working people do not like their jobs. The reasons are varied: many people say they do not like working for a boss and that they would like to be independent, others say that the work is boring, or that they work too many hours, or that they have few possibilities for promotion, or that they dislike the cost and stress of travelling to work. At the same time, as the majority of workers appear unhappy with their jobs, there is also the employer's point of view. The rising price of commercial office space makes it increasingly difficult to find adequate offices, and it is also increasingly difficult to find good workers.

These factors, combined with today's low-priced, high-powered computers, have made both employers and those people who want to be independent look at the home office as a new option. It is estimated that 40% of all computers now sold will be used at home, and that the home computer market will grow by 15% each year for the next five years. In Canada, home office computing is the fastest growing trend of the decade, in the United States more than a million people now work from a home office, and in France the government-sponsored national network is used by 450,000 people working from their homes for business purposes.