UK bosses urged to tap gains from work flexibility
Since the United Kingdom’s government announced in March that the nation would introduce a lockdown to restrict the spread of the novel coronavirus, many people have been working from home.
“The pandemic has certainly forced a lot of employees to work in a setting which they are unfamiliar with and, for some, this is a welcome change,” said Clare Lyonette, a professor at the University of Warwick.
For others, working from home has not been easy.
Some have had to juggle work while facing the challenges of home schooling, childcare and domestic work.
Many have created work spaces in cramped conditions, with little or no outdoor space and poor internet connections.
“This will surely have a negative effect on individual well-being and job satisfaction,” Lyonette said. “It is unlikely that the majority of those employees in this position will welcome remote working in the longerterm, and will be keen to return to the workplace as soon as they can.”
As the lockdown eases and offices and shops start to reopen, some companies and employees will be evaluating the way they worked before the pandemic and asking whether there should be more flexibility in future.
Lyonette said giving people a choice is crucial, and if workers can work from home on occasion, it is “likely to provide a win-win for both employee and employer”.
“Many of the benefits of flexible working are indirect, in that they do not demonstrate a direct benefit to the employer in financial terms, but if an employee is happy with his/her work-life arrangements, this is likely to have positive knock-on effects in terms of increased loyalty, commitment, productivity,” she said.
According to a survey by Theta Financial Reporting, 57 percent of the British respondents do not want to go back to normal working, in a normal office with normal office hours, after the lockdown ends. And 24 percent of them say their employer has not explored flexible working options with them or their colleagues ahead of a return to work.
Changes accelerated
Lewis Endlar, a teaching fellow in business at Keele University in Staffordshire, said working habits were already shifting before the pandemic hit, but the lockdown has accelerated those changes.
“We are seeing what is called ‘revolutionary change’ and that change is not only fast-paced but ‘big impact’ change. The COVID-19 crisis has definitely changed the landscape for industry and business, and, of course, for employees as well. … What we see now are organizations looking at the current situation and they are planning and adapting for the future and the need to ‘recalibrate work’,” Endlar said.
“We have definitely seen a reset of work, we’re seeing the application of technology to support that, but we’re also going to see some big changes, and I think the changes were already coming in to some extent, such as with artificial intelligence and more robotic technology that is being adopted by organizations and will continue to be.”
Endlar said that for employers, remote working can mean significant cost savings. For employees, working from home means travel costs are reduced, and there is the flexibility that comes from being in a comfortable environment at home, he said.