The exodus back to the office
Last year was all about working from home. But distractions, cabin fever, loneliness and the advantage of reading body language in a face-to-face conversation are driving a mass return to the office, writes Amanda Cropp.
Jadon Shiva swapped a cramped makeshift workspace in his bedroom for an office in a converted Napier wool store, and he could not be happier. The 22-year-old is five weeks into a tech support job with Now Broadband, and he is still revelling in having workmates he can talk to face-to-face, never mind extras like table tennis and an active social club.
After working fulltime from home for more than a year, mostly as a claims consultant for an insurance company, he was fed up with being cooped up in his Napier flat.
‘‘In a little while you get quite over it . . . the lack of social contact was a big part of it. It wasn’t easy to change the vibe in the house, it still felt like a workplace.’’ Shiva’s experience is not unusual. Stats NZ figures also show a steady decline in the total number of people working from home which fell from 980,000 in the June 2020 quarter, to 722,300 in the March 2021 quarter.
Co-working spaces also report soaring demand from home workers going stir-crazy from loneliness, and companies wanting more flexible options as they downsize.
Jordan Smith, national relationships manager for employee assistance programme (EAP) Raise, says working from home certainly does not suit everyone, and the mental health impact is often underestimated.
Corporate demand for mental health support is double what it was in 2019, stress and anxiety cases in the first quarter were three times pre-Covid levels, and other EAPs were reporting similar figures, says Smith.
Major changes in work patterns, job insecurity, less than ideal work-from-home setups and having to deal with broken supply chains all add to stress.
‘‘The feedback we’re getting is that the disruption factor at home is not necessarily better than in an office environment.
‘‘I had a conversation with a young father recently who is working from home now in a forced change, and he’s in a studio apartment with a 3-month-old baby and his partner.
‘‘Great he can spend time with his infant child, that’s awesome, except he can’t get any work done other than in gaps when the baby is asleep.’’ Smith knows of workers who quit when employers insisted on home-based work, and a young woman switched careers entirely because of an industry-wide shift to remote working. Otago University’s Business School will shortly repeat a May 2020 study of more than 2500 Kiwis who worked from home during lockdown, nearly 40 per cent of them for the first time.
When asked if they wanted to work remotely in future, only 22 per cent put their hands up to do it fulltime, with the majority opting for several times a week (46 per cent) or several times a month (21 per cent), and 11 per cent ruling it out altogether. Respondents said the benefits included a reduction in the time and cost of commuting, more flexible time management, and higher productivity. Researcher Dr Paula O’Kane hopes the new survey will give a clearer picture of how well working from home is working out, and whether people’s attitudes change the longer they do it.
She suspects the appeal is not working from home as such, and more about having control over when and how people work.
‘‘If you really think about people’s mental health, whether fulltime working from home is appropriate, I think in the majority of cases it probably isn’t,’’ O’Kane says.
‘‘But if it’s something an organisation undertakes, they have to think about how they create those opportunities for that social interaction and engagement.’’
Team building is harder when staff are scattered without regular opportunities for informal conversations that are often ‘‘the oil that really keeps things going’’.
Pre-pandemic research had already noted the risk that the ‘‘invisibility’’ of those working from home meant they were overlooked for training, professional development and promotion, and that is something for employers to consider too.
Auckland marketing consultant Rebecca Rea shares the BizDojo in Ponsonby with about 75 other regular users of the coworking space a short walk from her flat, and says having company was a relief after five months working from home.
‘‘I was ready to tear my hair out, I missed the routine of getting up, getting dressed and getting out, I really liked that, it sets you up for the day. I missed the social aspect as well.’’
Christchurch digital designer Becs Mudgway drives 30 minutes to the Saltworks co-working space in the city’s CBD, and likes it so much her initial two days a week soon stretched to five. ‘‘I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.’’
When she was living alone working from home in Wellington, the division between work and home disappeared, and she would end up spending the whole day in her pyjamas.
‘‘I was working 70 to 80 hours a week, it absolutely took over . . . I would go days without speaking to another person in the flesh.’’
Mudgway says other Saltworks users have similar skills, and she appreciates having others to bounce ideas off and to collaborate with on projects.
Jason Lindsey is the co-owner of Dunedin coworking space Petridish, which he concedes is ‘‘the world’s worst name in a pandemic’’, but it has not deterred the punters, and he has added about 40 new members since lockdown.
‘‘There were a lot of people who were used to travelling for work and when the borders got shut, they weren’t used to working from home and didn’t want to do it.’’
Sharedspace rents out accommodation in about
‘‘There’s been many a misunderstanding stemming from curt Slack messages.’’ James Fuller Founder of Wellington tech company Hnry
350 shared offices and co-working spaces nationally, and founder Matt Knight says skyrocketing demand is not restricted to the main centres.
People are working remotely in regional towns where housing is cheaper, or opting to do long stints at baches. ‘‘Queenstown has seen huge growth.’’
Falling out of love with the home office is undoubtedly a factor. ‘‘A lot of people have seen it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.’’
Knight traditionally targeted sole traders or small businesses, but he says recent demand is also being driven by larger companies quitting bigger offices and wanting smaller co-working space for 20-plus people.
Shiva’s new boss and Now Broadband general manager Brendon Fry says remote working opens up opportunities for recruitment in the regions, but it is not ideal for businesses where training and team building are key.
A planned expansion into Christchurch will create up to 15 jobs and, like the 60 in Napier, they will have a central office.
Fry says feedback is best done face to face, rather dashing off quick messages via team channels like Slack where it is impossible to read the recipient’s body language and see how comments are received.
James Fuller, founder of Wellington tech company Hnry, agrees wholeheartedly with that.
‘‘There’s been many a misunderstanding stemming from curt Slack messages.’’
Hnry offers some work flexibility and one of its engineers is spending two days a week at home to settle a new puppy, but Fuller says they are primarily an in-office business because collaboration is easier and productivity higher.
‘‘Having a conversation across your desk can result in someone else overhearing and being able to help solve the problem faster, as opposed to everything ending up as a one-to-one instant messenger chat.’’
During lockdown the frequency and length of meetings went up significantly.
‘‘Rather than have a quick 5-minute conversation in person, everything would require a minimum 15-minute meeting, booked in advance in people’s calendars.’’
Virtual socialising is also a poor substitute for the real thing, says Fuller.
‘‘The comparison between an in-person morning tea and a remote one is a stark reminder of how difficult it is to build culture when no-one can see body language and only one person at a time can talk.’’
Christchurch-based software company Jade is attempting to cut the isolation factor and offer its employees the best of both worlds. Apart from about a dozen who permanently work remotely, the rest of its 230 staff are expected to be in its five global offices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and where they spend the rest of their working week is up to them.
Jade people and capability director Kate Selway says they tried a few different combinations, but after polling staff they opted for two consecutive ‘‘connector’’ days, and they deliberately schedule activities to bring people together on those days.
About 15 to 20 per cent show up at the office regularly, with a hard core there five days a week.
‘‘They’re people who love social interaction, maybe their home setup is not overly conducive to them working at home, or they like the routine of getting into the car and driving into work.
‘‘We have no plans to reduce the office footprint because we want people to feel they can come into the office.’’