In a recent discussion with one of our member organisations, the question was raised — “has the increase in working from home caused more benefits or harm?”
Of course this is a very complex question — research from the University of Wellington indicates that working from home causes problems when trying to maintain a work life balance — problems most keenly felt by women. There has also been concerns that working from home causes more loneliness. Employers have voiced concerns over whether working from home (WFH) is a good thing for the organisation — the added flexibility can cause problems with ensuring that staff receive as much support as truly benefits them, with the Harvard Business Review finding that those who WFH have a 50% lower rate of promotion — meaning plenty of potential is going undeveloped, unrecognised and unrewarded.
However there are also lots of benefits — things such as having more time to spend with family, engage in hobbies and avoiding the dreaded commute have led to 83% of workers involved in a study from Price Waterhouse Cooper to regard the transition to not working in the office as a success.
For employees with disabilities or who are neurodivergent, the ability to avoid the office has additional benefits — they can ensure their workspace is accessible and set up to meet their needs exactly, it reduces tiredness and fatigue, and opens up opportunities that office life would not as easily afford them.
As well as accessing more diverse talent, employers now can source new hires from a wider geographical location — without the expectation of costly relocation fees — meaning a wider pool to find the ideal candidate. Financial savings aren’t just for the employers. Forbes reported evidence that employees can save thousands each year by avoiding the cost of commuting, professional outfits, car parking and food on the go.
However, one thing becomes pretty clear when looking through the research on how where we work is evolving. Lots of the discussion is setting “Working From the Office” against “Working From Home”, or, at best attempting a compromise with “hybrid” working where people are set to come to the office a set number of days per week supposedly as a way to get the best of both worlds. However the research shows that hybrid doesn’t work — as it assumes that one size fits all and everyone will benefit in the same way.
But perhaps there is a better way — one that doesn’t rely on home and the office as the only options.
Coincidentally, the day after we had been asked the question about the benefits vs drawbacks of WFH by one of our member organisations, I had booked in to a communal working space. I had been talking to a friend and former colleague I had worked with at a previous employer who was also now working from home.
We had discussed the many benefits, but also some of the pitfalls. We found a local business that was offering workspaces, and we booked in. It allowed us to get out of the house, it provided an opportunity to make connections with each other but also the other people in the building, bounce ideas off each other, tap into each other’s networks, we supported a local business, and I even walked there and back, getting fresh air and much more exercise than my usual commute down the stairs would provide. I didn’t feel that my time was eaten into by the demands of home, and I also didn’t feel that I was somewhere out of obligation or that I was in any way stifled or restricted by any aspect of office culture.
We plan to continue meeting up, perhaps once a fortnight or so, in other workplaces, cafes, the park or even each other’s homes, including other people in this semi regular gathering of working, if not precisely together, then certainly not alone.
All of this got me thinking.
Perhaps we need to stop thinking about work as “from the office” or “from home” and it being more “from wherever suits me, my team, clients and the wider organisation at that specific time”.
The Mindful Business Charter encourages organisations to look at how we can “Rehumanise the Workplace”. By showing greater respect to each other, acknowledging that the times and ways of working that make sense for one colleague may not work for another, that there will be differing demands on time and resources and so on, we can reduce the unnecessary stress that so often pervades the workplace — and maybe we can look at this in terms of locations for working.
To get the best from your employees, perhaps we need to take into account how a variety of locations fulfil different aspects of our individual human needs — and how changeable those needs are.
Sometimes “Remote Working” is used as a synonym for “Working from Home” when it really isn’t. True remote or perhaps most accurately termed “portable working”, is a more flexible way, that will support us best — as our needs change; be that needing support from colleagues, mentors and managers in the office, the need to work at home to take advantage of solitude or to be in for the tradesman, or working in a shared space to get entirely new perspectives.
Where we work has always been developing — through agricultural, industrial and technological revolutions, and all of these developments have been based on adjusting the status quo to best suit the situation. Indeed, the major change we see now — moving away from what we consider to be traditional office life happened as fast as it did due to Covid and the need to adapt quickly to best suit that situation.
Perhaps now, with a little bravery, we can stop, pause, and instead look at ways and locations that best suit us.
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