Home Offices: The New Workplace?
When lockdown was officially announced back in March, millions of us took our various office laptops and desktops, and started to work from home. It was a disruptive change to most of our daily working lives at the time and was accompanied by much uncertainty and unease. Around 46% of workers were setting up makeshift office desks in kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms across Britain.
But let’s face it – the novelty has worn off for most and it’s become part of the “new normal” that defines 2020. Waking up early-ish (who are we kidding, we’re out of bed by 8:45) to take a few steps to our home-workstations and logging on for Zoom/Teams catch-ups and meetings. Nevertheless, when the pandemic is over and we return to a sense of normality, how will this change how we work? Even though our routines have been disrupted, we’re certainly not missing the early morning rush and crazy commutes. Instead, our frustrations nowadays include replying whilst on mute during a Zoom meeting, realising you’re responsible for cleaning the kitchen every day and kids pestering you as you race to hit deadlines, some people miss the work/home balance.
Based on a poll we conducted across our social channels at the start of the month, most people (68%) voted “Half and Half” i.e. expressing a desire to work some of the time at the office and with the rest spent working from home. Could this be the best new working arrangement moving forward?
Before the pandemic, very few workplaces offered the option to WFH for a day or two per week. According to a WeWork survey, 90% of us want to return to the office at least once a week, with only 20% saying they wanted to return for the full five days. This proposed change to the typical nine-to-five offers a good balance of getting away from home for a few days to see our colleagues and collaborate on projects, while retaining the incentive of working independently from the comfort of our own homes.
With the latest government announcement insisting we continue working from home if we can, we find ourselves missing out on our social interactions in the workspace. Before this announcement, only 34% of white-collar workers had gone back to work across the country with some citing mixed messages from the Government as a deterrent to going back full-time. I mean, we can’t have family gatherings but can go into work to spend eight hour days with colleagues from all different areas? Even though some workplaces have been proactive in working out safety measures and rotas to help encourage employees to return to the office, now “safe environments”, when will the rest of workplaces see their employees return?
Will the new work-life balance be of any interest to workers? Hopefully, we’re not all working from home forever but remain so for the foreseeable future.
The team at Air Social been working from home during these crazy times but are still delivering top quality service to our clients. Get in touch with us today and find out how we can put your business on the digital map and provide you with an engaging social media presence.
