Rush back to the office’
Iceland, which has its HQ based in Flintshire, said all but essential head office colleagues were instructed to work from home at the start of lockdown and they had fulfilled their roles “effectively while working remotely”.
However, the supermarket giant was keen to get its 800 workers based in Wales back to the office.
A spokesperson said: “We are conscious that face-to-face contact drives engagement and colleagues have begun to return to our Deeside head office in greater numbers, and more frequently, as we have started to move back towards something like normality in recent weeks.
“We are currently looking at the working arrangements for our head office teams to ensure the most effective ways of supporting our stores, but are happy in principle to allow some continued flexibility on working from home so long as engagement amongst our teams remains high.”
BBC staff were due to move into their plush new purpose-built office in Cardiff’s Central Square just before lockdown hit.
Some are now beginning to return to the office but must adhere to the new safety procedures in place, including one-way systems around the buildings, socially distanced queuing systems for canteens and resource hubs, a reduction in the number of desks and regular temperature checks.
A spokesman added: “We will certainly be looking at lessons learned during this period in terms of home working, although it’s too early to tell what our working arrangements will be in 12 months time.”
It’s not just the private sector looking at how working patterns might change.
Public sector organisations like health boards and even the Welsh civil service are looking at making it a more permanent arrangement too.
The Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said the pandemic had effectively created a “fivemonth pilot on agile working” and it is already looking at ways to keep the best bits going forward. It employs 13,000 people, two-thirds of whom are involved in direct patient care.
For those who can work from home, however, they may never have to return to the office.
A spokesperson said: “The Health Board has been developing its agile working strategy for some time and the opportunity to work from home has been available where appropriate.
“The pandemic has rapidly and profoundly changed the way we have all worked.
“It has effectively delivered a five-month pilot on agile working and much of what we have learned we will want to sustain going forward.
“Where staff are able to undertake their role from home, we are encouraging them to do so and we will want to continue this going forward.”
Three-quarters of people say they don’t miss the commute to work, according to Office Space in Town, meaning many of those commuters standing bleary-eyed on the platforms at 7am are reluctantly heading back to their normal routines.
It is important to note that while home working does buy us more time without the daily grind of travelling to and from the office, there are also significant downsides too, says Mrs Holloway.
She warned: “Over half of respondents to OSiT’s survey reported that working from home had not improved their work-life balance and 37% felt unable to unplug from work.”