It is time to change how we work

With an estimated 60% of UK workforce now working from home, and the majority in favour of maintaining this new status quo, it’s time to address the reality that remote and flexible working is here to stay.

To employers it means a city centre office for 250 is not required, especially when at least 150 of those employees would prefer to work flexibly or at home. Office costs, business trips, utilities, kitchen and bathroom supplies, refreshments, meals, entertainment – all expenditure that has been slashed.

To employees, avoiding a daily commute, saving time, money and energy and the stress of delays, public transport, roadworks, and coughing up for expensive coffee and take away food – it’s a no-brainer.

Home working has given employees a sense of control over their working life. They can organise their own workload to allow time for kids or parents during the day, support their colleagues to do the same and no longer feel tied to the 9-5. They feel more trusted to manage personal work/life balance, feel more in control and less stressed by work.

Micro-management is redundant - given the space, trust and support employees will hit deadlines, achieve project aims and contrary to some expectations, increase productivity, raising the possibility that remote working could help reduce the working week from 5 to 4 days.

The question for us now isn’t ‘is remote the new default?’, rather ‘how do we make the new default work for us’?

To join the ongoing conversation about remote working, the practicalities and the future, check out Tech London Advocates – Remote Working or connect with Louisa Williamson at www.thrivehrconsulting.co.uk and me, Zoltan Vass, at  zoltanvass.com.

 Further reading

·       Business Insider: Microsoft experimented with a 4-day workweek, and productivity jumped by 40%

·       ACAS Research Paper: Flexibility in the Workplace

·       ACAS Research Paper: Home is Where the Work is