Home-working damages productivity, bosses claim

WORKING from home is damaging the nation’s productivity as bosses find their staff are less useful when logging in from the kitchen table, according to a study by the Office for National Statistics.

Twice as many businesses said productivity fell when staff worked from home as the proportion that found it improved, suggesting the national experiment in remote working could quickly come to an end for many employees when restrictions are eased.

A steady rise in productivity, which measures output per worker, is key for future prosperity and allows wages and living standards to rise over time.

Low productivity was already a problem before the pandemic struck and empty offices appear to be worsening the situation. Of those bosses who have increased home working through the pandemic, almost a quarter said that productivity has got worse. Just 12 per cent said it had improved, and around half said it made no difference.

As a result, less than a fifth of businesses expect to keep more working from home after the pandemic is over, with two thirds set to go back to their old set-up permanently. The remainder have not yet decided.

The findings are a blow to employees who expect to be able to work from home forever, but could give hope to shops, pubs and restaurants devastated by the shift online.

The ONS found that expectations about home working varied widely by industry. In education, just over half of employers expect more home working to be used in future – even though just 3.4 per cent found it had that improved productivity compared to 13 per cent who said the opposite. In information and communications, the share expecting to work remotely more often is just over 40 per cent, closely followed by professional, scientific and technical firms, as well as those in water and waste utilities.

But while those industries really could be upended by remote working, others are far less keen. No employer in accommodation, food services, transport or storage said they will continue any home working. Only one in 20 construction businesses plans to continue with the experiment, with just one in 12 in wholesale and retail expecting to retain any changed habits.

Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, says he expects an increase in future home working as the pandemic turbocharges an existing gradual shift in habits. However, he suspects there will not be a complete change of tack because offices foster new ideas, professional relationships and competition.