The future of home

This is a subject we are all only too aware of over the course of 2020 and it looks little different for 2021 – and possibly this is a change that will never be reversed

Although workers have benefitted from greater flexibility and respite from office distractions, economists are sceptical whether this has translated into material improvements in productivity.

Businesses are also dubious. Six months into the first lockdown, only 12% of companies could identify any improvements, according to the Office of National Statistics.

This does not mean that tasks cannot be completed efficiently at home. A spreadsheet, for example, can be filled out from anywhere in the world with a decent computer and internet connection. But jobs are made up of more than one task and not all of these can be done as effectively from home. There are important by-products of office working that are lost at home. Workers are not bouncing ideas off each other as they used to or cementing relationships by chatting round the water cooler, lunching together and meeting up in the pub after work for some social bonding. This has an impact on the quality of collaboration, which can greatly inhibit innovation. Creativity is rarely nurtured in a single bubble.

Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, said: “Lack of distraction and noise is not always a good thing. It is also well established that exposure to new and different experiences, sounds, smells, environments, ideas and people is the key source of the creative spark.”

This may not be of immediate concern to businesses during the pandemic but it does carry long-term implications. If remote working becomes a permanent feature of working life, as many believe it will, businesses will have to find ways of repairing these lost channels of communication and collaboration.

The chart opposite is fascinating and the one aspect that needs urgent attention if the UK is to survive outside of the EU is the productivity output list. The government will need to pay special attention as to why it takes the UK worker five days to complete what the Americans are doing in 3.65. Even Italy and France do it faster and they are not known as the ‘liveliest’ workers in the world!

How per worker productivity compares: days worked to deliver same output G7 nations (2016, ONS)

UK 5 days  Japan 5.3 days  Canada 4.95 days  Germany 4.5 days  France 4.4 days  Italy 4.3 days  US 3.65 days 

Across all industries, of buinesses not permanently stopped trading and that reported more staff working from home

A report published by the National Bureau of Ecconomic Research found that people across the world were working longer hours during the pandemic

9hours 50 minutes to 10hours 40 minutes

Proportion of workers working at home 40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

1981 2015 ‘17 ‘19 Apr Jun Aug Oct

Source: ONS and Bank of England 0%

Top struggles for remote workers Top concerns for managers of remote teams