Mobile working has been a boon as well as a curse. It all depends on

one's point of view. If you are an overworked employee like me, it is certainly an additional piece of burden, I take home. The management looks at it as a boon. Now, they can not only keep track of me in the office but also at home, holiday or wherever I might be at the moment they want me. Which means all the while? No doubt, I messed up my honeymoon. From the time I spent on

it, with it and together, it looked like I was newly married to my PDA. Seriously, my working hours have extended far beyond the office hours and intruded into my private time. Stress is a natural outcome of such extended exposure to work. Look around and you see overworked guys perpetually on their mobiles. Who is going to complain? The management claims that the productivity of its employees has gone up. New buzzwords have grown around the mobile working world.

Flexi working is one such. This boils down to the fact that you spend your mandatory hours in the office, albeit at flexible hours. Working from home is also becoming popular. But that is still not accepted as working hours, which is a pity. Commuting is a huge problem in many parts of the world. I myself spend two hours going up and down to work. Imagine how it would save my time even if I worked from home half the days! The big issue here is for the management to adapt to new situations. This is already happening to the field crew and engineers. They no longer have to head to the headquarters at the drop of a hat. Handheld computers carry their data back and forth seamlessly. A visit to the office, once in a while, is accepted by management. What are they going to do in the office, anyway?