Working from home has been a hot topic since the pandemic started and it’s easy to see why many people initially believed working from home, or a blend of home and office-working, would form part of the new normal. In recent weeks it has become clear that some people want more workplaces to adopt this approach while others favour a predominantly office-based workstyle.
How it used to be
Pre-COVID, around 18% of employees had the option to work from home and only 41% were confident their company’s technological infrastructure was robust enough to allow them to effectively do so. This meant many businesses were wildly underprepared to allow for home-working when the crisis hit in March 2020. Over the last few years, a growing movement for flexible and home-working has been emerging, but it was by no means the norm and most people accepted that being at work meant physically going to an office. At the start of the pandemic, many people embraced working from home and felt it could be here to stay.
Back to the way things were
In a recent BBC interview David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, suggested that, despite having only 10% of workers in their offices throughout the pandemic, the bank will not be adopting a home working model. Citing their collaborative and apprenticeship culture, he called home-working “an aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible”. He’s certainly not alone either, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he’s desperate for the buzz to return to cities and feels our social nature means we won’t be able to resist the pull of working in an office again.
For many people that is true. They miss seeing friends, family, and colleagues, and are counting down the days until social situations are allowed again. Returning to the office would be a welcome return to some form of normality. It’s also true that many workplaces have a collaborative culture that is hard to emulate digitally, even with all the tools available. For some, the commute home is a time for decompression that naturally separates the two, difficult to do when your kitchen is also your workspace.
Here to stay?
On the other side of the coin are the businesses embracing their workforce being either permanently home-based or a blend of home and office-based. Back in October 2020, Microsoft became one of many companies that publicly stated their intention to permanently make the shift away from office working. Joining the likes of Facebook, who stated that up to 50% of staff could expect to work from home within a decade, HSBC, who plans to cut their office space by 40%, and BP, who will be asking the majority of office-based staff to work from home two days a week.
These moves were welcomed by many who found they enjoyed the flexibility working from home brought. Long commutes were replaced by extra time in bed and mealtimes with the family, allowing many to feel more present. The ability to choose when you work has allowed some people to discover and make use of the times of the day when they’re more productive.
The result?
What has become clear throughout this pandemic is that there is an appetite among employees for home-working as much as there is an appetite to return to the office.
Perhaps one positive to come out of COVID will be more choice for those wanting a workplace that reflects their own values, with the ability to decide based on whether the company allows home-working or not. It has given many people the time and space they may not have realised they needed to reassess their situations and decide whether they want to make a change.
Here at Archive-Vault we’ve adapted our services to suit those working remotely and in the office. We also carry out all deliveries and collections in a COVID-secure way. If you’d like to discuss how we can help support your version of the new normal, give us a call on 01603 720722 or email us at info@archive-vault.co.uk.
