So here’s a little challenge. When people say they can work from home, get them to do it. As simple as that.

However, and here’s the fun bit, not just one or two of them, and not just for a few hours or for a day or two – that’s not a realistic test.

How about asking seventy or eighty percent of each team or department that claims they can work from home to actually do so for a week? And, ideally, ask a number of teams or departments to do it at the same time. That’ll really prove the feasibility of the home-working strategy and will almost certainly identify a number of issues that need to be resolved in order to make it work effectively.

You may well find that some people are rather reticent at this point, and give all kinds of excuses as to why they can’t possibly do such a test. You may find that some modify their opinion of the feasibility of their previous “all our staff can work from home” assertion. You may even find that everyone’s perfectly happy with the idea and that the test works like a dream.

Which one is your money on?