Working from home – the new normal?

As businesses emerge from the coronavirus crisis, Professor Frank Peck examines what will become of the world of work and remote working. As the economy begins to emerge from the immediate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, much speculation now surrounds the future of work. In the short term, we have grown used to new categories – essential workers that provide vital goods and services such as in healthcare, emergency services, food production and distribution, postal services. Then there are displaced workers that, temporarily at least, have been removed from employment, disproportionately affecting those working in tourism, hospitality, non-food retailing and consumer services. Lastly, we have growth in the numbers of remote workers who have been able to work from home. Surveys conducted by ONS indicate that working from home has become widespread. During the first lockdown, it was reported that around 46% of employees did some work from home and of these 86% attributed this to the pandemic (ONS, Coronavirus and homeworking in the UK: April 2020. ONS Statistical Bulletin). A lifestyle survey conducted by ONS in the second lockdown estimated that around 38% were working from home in November 2020. In the North West region, this figure was 33%. Cumbria Business Survey indicated that at the time of the survey (October to December 2020), 28% of business respondents indicated that some staff were working remotely, and two-thirds of these expected this to still be the case in autumn 2021 (Cumbria Intelligence Observatory).