Working from home set to become the ‘new normal’ according to new research

Interesting and timely new research in this week newsletter suggesting that two in three office-based employees currently working from home due to the virus outbreak believe logging on remotely from home will become more common once things return to ‘normal’. The survey of 1,000 UK office workers was carried out towards the end of March, with the research also taking place in Germany, France, Italy and Australia.

Working from home was already a relatively widespread practice in the UK even before working remotely was enforced to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. In fact, the UK was ahead of the global curve. Almost half of UK office workers worked from home regularly – at least once a week – before the outbreak

Two in three say that their productivity at home is the same or even higher than it is in the office. The two biggest negative factors affecting productivity amongst UK employees working from home are distractions due to the home environment, such as children and pets, and distance from or lack of communication with colleagues

The two factors cited as most important for driving greater productivity amongst UK home workers are a suitable working environment, such as a separate workplace at home and using a single-sign-on solution or workspace to avoid logging on separately to every tool. So, working from home could indeed become the ‘new normal’. Only time will tell.

Our 2020 Employee Engagement Summit this autumn will examine in detail the evolution of the EX and home working will be high on the agenda. A date for your diaries.