I recently saw a programme about working from home. Since the covid pandemic, when people were more or less told to stay at home and not mix with others outside their family bubble, working from home took off. With most people having computers or smart mobile phones, it made working from home a reality that could be implemented. It would probably not even have been possible back in the 1990s.
Suddenly everyone was jumping on the bandwagon and, even when covid restrictions were lifted, many continued to work from home, including those who work in large organisations and government offices. This meant procedures that usually took only a few weeks then took months. I knew this to my own pain, when I tried to apply for Power Of Attorney and the whole procedure was frustrating (see here) and took nearly a year to process.
For the employees, this is ideal - they can stay at home in their pyjamas and work in their lounge, bedroom or kitchen. They don't have to pay travel costs to get to work (which in London can be horrendous) or add hours onto their day by the commute. They can be with their children or closer to schools to pick them up and manage their day to their own timetable. The programme I watched even showed one office employee working at a computer in his local golf club and playing a round of golf when he needed a break!
The downside of this is that many workers are cut off from their colleagues and the usual banter and mentoring that goes on falls out of the window. It has led to a huge increase in mental health issues, as staff grapple to work in isolation. Meetings via a computer screen are not the same as being able to socialise and swap ideas and information in person round a table.
Of course not all professions lend themselves to working from home. Hospital doctors, firefighters, train/bus drivers, beauty salons, dry-cleaners and restaurants/cafes immediately spring to mind. Many of these have apparently seen a decline in their businesses, because of home-working.
Some unions are taking up the baton to make it an employee's right to work from home. I am not sure I agree with that and would love things to return to how they were pre-Covid, as it only seems to complicate matters and reduce efficiency of the service the organisation provides. Not to mention having a huge impact on mental health. What do you think?
1 comment:
Both my daughter and son-in-law have spent many, many hours working from home. His job involves "coding" so it is well suited to home work. However, every week he goes into the office for at least one full day. For them, a positive feature of working from home is that you are not wasting time. You get stuck in and do the work. No opportunity for social chitchat with colleagues or trips out to the local coffee bar to pick up a sandwich.
As you say, there are many jobs that are simply not suited to home working but some are perfectly suited to it. I like the term "hybrid working" in which there will be a healthy mixture of office-based and home-based working. I know that for my daughter and son-in-law working from home is focused and business-like. They are not sitting around in their pyjamas and kind of taking it easy. That is a cruel and inaccurate caricature.
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