Flexibility for the Future!

"WFH" has become a very popular acronym in recent months, yet for me, it has been my reality for almost three years. In fact, growing up it was my norm, as my parents have been "WFH" since 1991!

As we emerge from lockdown, I have found myself being drawn to this topic which seems to bring out quite strong opposing views, and I must admit I find it amusing observing my parents, who as early proponents of WFH, wondering what all the fuss is about! However, what strikes me is that the opinions I have come across are polarised, its one way of working or another.

The Positives of WFH

On one side, I hear about the advantages of WFH, how it has made employees more relaxed, less stressed as they don't have to face the daily grind of commuting, it has given them more time with their families, and they are able to do their work effectively from home which means their employer can save money by ditching the expense of renting office space. As the well known mantra goes, "a happy employee is a more productive employee"....... or are they?

The reasons not to WFH

The critics of WFH will tell you that whilst employees may be productive in the short-term, over a longer period, there is no evidence to show that productivity remains constant or increases, particularly as supervision of staff is more challenging to do remotely. In fact, they would argue that bad habits start to creep in, "pyjama days" become more frequent, distractions around the house become more tempting, and as the reality of WFH becomes more long-term, isolation will start to kick in, leading to poor mental health. They further cite economic arguments as being a good reason that WFH should not be the new norm, if less people are travelling into work, this has a direct impact on other sectors such as transport and the footfall of potential customers for other businesses particularly in the retail sector.

Isn't flexibility the key?

For me, working from home is a necessity. I am a divorced mother to a young autistic child, who 18 months ago was unable to speak. I realised that if I was going to implement an extended curriculum (a phrase familiar to all parents of SEN children) whereby I could maximise his learning opportunities, then being my own boss was the only way to achieve it, as the flexibility I required was simply not going to be compatible with being an employee for someone else.

Whilst I love my current working arrangements which are suited to my lifestyle and came at the right time in my career as a senior lawyer, I don't think they would have always suited me. When I was a junior lawyer, I certainly valued sharing an office with a more senior lawyer, it is far easier to bounce an idea off a colleague if you are in the same room than making the effort to call them. I also really enjoyed the camaraderie that was formed from working in close proximity with my colleagues in the office, many of whom are now my close friends.

I was fortunate that I had a blueprint of what made WFH a success having seen my parents do so over the last thirty years. I recognised the importance of having a routine, dressing up for work (even if I was staying at home), setting my goals for the day, having a defined office space that I could lock up at the end of my working day, equipment to be able to do my job effectively and creating opportunities to leave the house! Most importantly, as any working mother will testify, knowing that you have to be on time for the school run, is a great motivator to work efficiently.

In my opinion, the last few months have not shown us that WFH is the new norm and neither is the office as we know it, dead. By the same token, I do not think that we can simply revert back to the default position of working in the office either. There has been a fundamental shift in our attitudes to WFH, many (I include employers and employees in this) have had their eyes opened to a different way of working.

There are of course advantages and disadvantages to WFH, and for some jobs that clearly is not going to be possible or appropriate, but what I hope is that employers and employees will have learnt that flexibility is the key. This will be dependent upon numerous factors, the industry, the job, ability to supervise, whether the individual can work efficiently from home and so on. I predict that many employers, will start to consider more flexible working applications with a different mindset having seen how it could work during this pandemic, and agile working policies will be commonplace.

Mandy Aulak, Solicitor

Director & Co-Founder of Talem Law - www.talemlaw.co.uk