Guest blog: Home is where the Heart is - By Paul Wilson - Founder of Catalyst Recruitment
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National Work From Home Day?! It’s that time of year again where, as long-time advocates of smarter, flexible working, I take a moment to reflect – to think about Work Wise UK, its activities and ours in the context of the day, the issues of our time, the last couple of years and, just as importantly, the future. So where do we begin…?
Well, let’s cut straight to the chase and get the B word out there. Brexit. Love it or loathe it, it’s with us. What does the post Brexit future look like? Will there be a Brexit? When? Will it be hard or will it be soft? What do we do about it? How will we need to adapt?
When I look at these questions I imagine worst case scenarios. Not because I’m a pessimist – quite the opposite – but because I want my recruitment business, Catalyst, my family and friends, the UK and the world, to survive and prosper, come what may. At almost 15 years in business, granted with a long, long way to go, we seem to have managed that pretty successfully so far and, if I’m honest, I’ve created bigger challenges for the business and myself than any “external forces”, Financial Crisis included. That makes me think two or three things – “you can’t control these forces – they’re way bigger than you”, “the worst case is probably not as bad as your worst experience”, and so, “you can probably deal with it”, and, “you will learn a great deal”. Accepting our history, our challenges, past and present, we’re all very, very lucky to be British – to call Britain our home - and I, like very many, from hugely diverse backgrounds, am incredibly thankful for that. That’s what I focus on, when I think about Brexit – equally that where there is change there is opportunity to improve, however challenging it may feel to look at things that way. Am I with Nigel, Boris and Jacob? Only as much as with, say, Grace Blakeley. It’s all about balance.
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In any other time, we might celebrate the fact that homeworking is on the rise. New figures from the ONS show that 49.2% of employees are now working from home (up from 45.8% in just one week). But the definition of flexible working is about employees having a choice about where and when they work. Enforced homeworking, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, doesn’t seem to quite fit this bill.
Homeworking in the current environment
What else do we know about homeworking in the lockdown? Well we know that:
· many employees feel that as soon as work returns to anything approaching business as usual, employers will row back on homeworking, whatever the perceived benefits
· homeworking is a privilege, of sorts, only afforded to professional occupations, with lower-paid workers in precarious work less able to work from home
· working from home is more widespread in some sectors than others. A new YouGov poll for Acas shows that it’s easier for those in IT/ telecoms (90% work from home all or most of the time due to Coronavirus) and finance/accounting (84%), but not so easy for those in retail (22%) and hospitality/leisure (26%)
· homeworking is double-edged, bringing both rewards, with a sense of empowerment for some, as well as no dreaded commuting; and difficulties – in an IES survey, over half of respondents reported new pains, especially in the neck, shoulders and back; and the Acas survey reported workers missing informal/social interaction (71%) and feeling ‘out of the loop’ (51%).