The office desk, as we know it, may have had its day. A large study on the future of work

in the UK predicts the rise of the "mobile worker" moving with notebook computer and mobile phone between office, home, hotel, airport or highway service station as the needs of a job demand. Today , more than five million people already spend some time working at home or on the move, according to a recent report. That number will rise dramatically over the coming decades, with mobile work becoming one of the fastest-growing types of employment.

According to the study "Working in the Twenty-First Century", individuals will not necessarily see themselves as working from home. They could equally be working from the office, but they will be on the move from place to place, working at various times of the day, for much of the week. For a large proportion of workers, work in twenty years' time will be more about movement than staying in one place.