A survey conducted by O2, ICM and YouGov has predicted that employees will be reluctant to give up working remotely after lockdown. Almost half of the office workers believe that the Covid-19 pandemic will result in them permanently working more flexibly after restrictions on UK businesses are lifted.
It was found that 33 per cent of respondents expect to work from home for at least three days per week, whilst 81 per cent think they will work remotely for at least one day per week.
The survey also found that technology could be a solution for spanning geographic inequality in the UK - as current lockdown restrictions have affirmed that many employees are able to work from anywhere.
At present, 62 per cent of employees live within 30 minutes of their workplace. However, the poll showed that if working from home was easier and more common, this figure would reduce to 36 per cent with 63 per cent of workers willing to live up to an hour away from their workplace. This should then mean that competition to attract and retain staff could be greater as businesses compete for a wider range of employees from across the country.
Dr Heejung Chung - Reader in Sociology and Social Policy Director at the University of Kent - said:
“It will be difficult to go back to normal ways of working after lockdown, as we’ve now proven that most of us can work from home – despite many companies previously telling employees that it wouldn’t be possible. The UK has a huge challenge with the geographic distribution of wealth, and this exaggerates the problem of overpopulation in cities. If people could work from wherever they want to, without any fear of career penalty, this would create a huge opportunity for everyone.”
Despite 56 per cent of employers stating that less than a tenth of their workforce worked remotely before the crisis, 67 per cent of companies said that 75 per cent of their employees are working remotely - with 87 per cent of those having the technology and resources in place to work productively.
Mark Crail - Content Director for XpertHR - commented that HR assistance had been critical in allowing people to juggle work and family responsibilities.
He said:
"There is a real sense that people have thrown themselves into the challenge of home working and simply coped with the need to juggle work and childcare, to take part in online meetings despite internet connectivity issues, and to work round problems that arise. HR has played a huge part in making this possible, and has put lots of work into engaging with remote teams, equipping managers to work in new ways, supporting the mental health and wellbeing of those stuck at home, and keeping open the channels of communication."
A separate survey by Willis Towers Watson found that home workers had remained productive despite the challenges. Of the 996 employers surveyed, only 15 per cent said productivity had declined; 27 percent said there had been a small negative impact and another 15 per cent said home working had not impacted staff productivity. Almost all of the employers surveyed stated that they kept up a regular communication with their staff to keep them motivated and 86 per cent said they had measures in place to ensure workers felt supported.
