New survey shows the impacts of home working on UK productivity
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- Published: Tuesday, 21 April 2020 09:18
A new UK-based survey into the experience of home working shows that 37 percent are finding it increasingly difficult to work from home. The survey of 2,000 people, commissioned by Moneypenny, showed that a further 6 percent said they don’t feel they can work from home any longer while 52 percent said they have got used to home working.
Workloads seem to be reducing for some, as after more than three weeks in lockdown 24 percent of respondents said they feel like work is drying up, while 17 percent say they spend fewer hours on work each week compared with pre-lockdown times and admit to feeling guilty about this. However, 12 percent said they are actually spending more hours working than they would in the office.
Working at home also seems to have reduced communication with work colleagues for most, as 72 percent of those surveyed admitted they don’t speak to anyone from work for a full day and of these, almost a third (32 percent) said this lack of dialogue goes on for more than a day.
Lockdown seems to have blurred the boundaries between work and free time, as 73 percent said they are answering calls and emails after working hours. However, far from working in their pyjamas, 19 percent said they dress up properly to feel like they are going to work.
The experience of working from home has not be aided by many companies, as more than half (53 percent) of those surveyed said their company didn’t provide anything to help them set up their home office and only 16 percent said they received vouchers or cash to buy what they need for this. Only 13% already had a home office set up at home, while 24 percent are using their living room as a home office, 15 percent the dining room and 12 percent their bedroom.
