To work from home or not? Read my article and let me know what side of the fence you're on!
To work from home, or not to work from home, that is the question!?
Working from home is a really hot topic at the moment.?Before the pandemic, some organisations wouldn’t even have considered letting staff have the flexibility of working from the kitchen table (dining room, garden or the occasional few hours in Starbucks).?But then the pandemic hit and suddenly it wasn’t even a consideration anymore.?It was a necessity.
Many of us stayed in our pyjamas (from the waist down at least) and technology became our best friend.?Zoom boomed and Skype soared.?The BBC say the former grew by 326% to $2.6bn in 2020. (i)
But now that we are emerging from the pandemic, do we go back to working in our offices full time??Do we continue working from home??Or do we do a bit of both??There’s certainly plenty of discussion about it.
As we started to weigh up the pro’s and con’s, we noticed that so many of these are down to personal choice. What one person sees as a positive, the next person sees as a negative.?And that’s perhaps why it’s such a divisive topic.
Let’s look at the pro’s first.?Organisations are saving money on office over heads.?Some even have fewer desks than they have employees with the expectation that they won’t ever have a full complement of staff back in the office.
There’s no commute, saving time and money for employees.?No lateness either.?And it’s better for the environment.?In fact, research by Hubble found a whopping 79% of respondents surveyed, named the lack of commute as one of the biggest benefits of working from home. (ii)
Undeniably, employees have more freedom.?Where they might have spent 10 minutes chatting round the water cooler in the office, they might now spend the same amount of time putting a wash on.?Any harm done??Probably not.?Happier staff??Almost certainly.
For some, there has been a positive impact on mental health.?It suits lots of people to work from home on their own. The Royal Society for Public Health found more people agreed working from home was good for their mental health (45%) compared to nearly one third (29%) who felt their mental health declined. (iii)
There are often far fewer interruptions at home too.?Everything from formal meetings and colleagues popping by your desk.?Lots of people claim to be more productive when at home on their own.
?Of course, there are downsides too.?The most talked about issue is often that employers can’t ‘keep an eye’ on staff.?The CIPD say that trusting your employees is absolutely vital.?“Ensure managers understand that visibility is not the key to performance and that they explore new ways of communicating, delegating and working with their teams to meet targets and deadlines.” (iv)
It can also really affect team spirit, because a virtual team can be a disjointed one.?Of course, you can keep in touch via video calls but it’s not the same as seeing someone face to face, or passing someone in the office and having an impromptu conversation.?
As well as team spirit, mental health can take a hit too.?An article from Employment Studies looks at the impact on employee’s mental health.?A survey found a third of respondents frequently felt isolated when working from home. (v)
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Many people also feel they don’t get any separation from home and work.?There is no journey home to wind down. Just one continuation of home into work, work into home, with no change of environment.?It can be hard to switch off and in fact the ONS say “People who completed any work from home did 6.0 hours of unpaid overtime on average per week in 2020, compared with 3.6 hours for those that never work from home”. (vi)
?Of course, we can’t forget the cost of working from home too.?The overheads mount up – energy costs for lighting, heating, laptop charge etc.?While your company might be making savings, many employees are taking them on with no compensation.
?While some would say they are distracted sitting in an office, plenty of people complain about the distractions at home.?Everything from deliveries, to the TV and noisy households.?It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.?
?With so many positives and negatives, the jury is out on this one.?Many organisations will be taking a flexible approach and if they’re smart, they’ll listen to their workforce and take into account what works for them.
References
(i)?????????????????https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56247489
(ii)???????????????https://hubblehq.com/blog/impact-of-commute-time-on-work-preferences
(iii)?????????????https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/survey-reveals-the-mental-and-physical-health-impacts-of-home-working-during-covid-19.html
(iv)?????????????https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/flexible-working/during-COVID-19-and-beyond#gref
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??The Office Massage (TOM) Ltd??Helping Office, Facility & HR Managers quickly Enhance Employee Well-being & Company Culture???? Strategies to Reduce Stress, Promoting a Healthier, Happier & more Productive Workplace ??
3 年Lauren Cobb This is such a difficult one isn’t it, we have suddenly had an option of staying at home to work. Personally I think the hybrid is the best one. We are social creatures and need the comraderie of the office and the chats round the water cooler, even if we don’t want to commute to do it ??