Is remote work dying out?

Before the pandemic, did anyone in an office job really work from home full-time?

According to ONS:

In 2019, 5.7% of the UK workforce (1.7 million people) worked mainly from home. 8.7% of the workforce (2.6 million people) worked from home at least some of the time.

In 2020, as we all know, the work landscape changed drastically due to the pandemic, and during the height of it in April, 46.6% of the UK workforce were working from home.

Throughout 2022, 44% reported home or hybrid working (28% hybrid and 16% home) and 56% reported to office working – 46% of those working in the office reported not being able to work from home, compared with the 10% who could but still chose to travel to the office.

There are so many benefits of working from home, and it really has opened a whole new way of working, however, like with anything, there needs to be some balance. Workplaces like Next Chapter who offer hybrid working have really seem to hit the sweet spot. But could full-time remote working be hindering people’s careers?

In this article, we’ll delve into the benefits and drawbacks of working from home and share our insights into the future of remote and hybrid work styles.

Benefits of working from home

First and foremost, here are some of the key benefits of working from home:

1. Parents can spend more time with their kids
2. Supports those who care for family members or have pets
3. Supports those with physical disabilities
4. Allows flexibility around other non-work commitments
5. Commuting time is reduced, especially for those having to travel from further away
6. Reduced Travel costs
7. Less distractions for focused work
8. Access to personal comforts

Overall, most of this can be summed up by an improved work-life balance, meaning we are often more productive at work, yet have more time and energy to spend exploring home life.

Drawbacks of working from home

As productive as working from home can be, there’s also another side of this where little distractions can creep up, like household chores or maybe a new episode of your favourite TV series being released. This can delay and interfere with our work, meaning we sometimes don’t meet expectations. Other drawbacks include:

Office environment and culture is lacked at home

Before COVID, pretty much everyone worked from home all the time. Post COVID, we’d go into the office maybe once every two or three weeks, and after nearly 2 years of lockdowns many were feeling demotivated and were concerned over the effect it was having on their mental health. Obviously, there were other factors that contributed to this, but no access to an office environment and a lack of office culture were key factors. With many people now working in a hybrid role, overall motivation and mental health has improved within workforces.

Home working boundaries – when should I stop?

Are you over or under working? Sometimes when we work from home, it’s harder to set boundaries. Especially with ourselves. We often think ‘one more email’, and next thing you know it’s an hour or two after you were meant to finish. In an office, it’s often easier to organise your day and have more set boundaries – including a finishing time.

While we might all spend a few minutes on casual conversations while in the office, if you  and allow for this it can be a useful collaboration and learning tool. Whereas distractions from home have few long-terms benefits to yourself or your company.

Lack of supervision and accountability

Another difficulty working fully remote is that there is sometimes a lack of supervision and accountability. It’s not that we need micro-managing and someone looking over our shoulder all the time, but at home, we are very likely to get distracted by household chores, or the newest episode of our favourite TV show, leading to missed tasks and an overall lack of communication.

Work-life structure

Another drawback of full remote working is that it can often lead to a reduced structure and routine – sleeping later and waking up later being a key impact on this. How many times have you said, “I can watch another episode because I’m only working from home tomorrow”? Understandably, waking up early especially for a longer commute may not be favoured over some extra time in bed, however once we look past this, we get to see the benefits in waking up early, going outdoors, putting ourselves in a mentally stimulating environment as opposed to working from our bed, not showered till the afternoon with no breakfast till it’s past lunchtime and we’re asking ourselves, where has the day gone? Unproductive right. Sleep Foundationstates that a person’s sleep schedule preference is closely tied to their circadian rhythms, which are natural physical processes that follow similar patterns about every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms are influenced by light exposure, meal timing and exercise. Many studies suggest that sleeping later is associated with many health issues but waking up earlier doesn’t always solve the problem, as often people who sleep later and wake up early accumulate a sleep debt. The way to overcome this would be by shifting the sleep schedule, to reap the benefits of getting a good night’s sleep.

Research carried out by University of Leeds founds that a third of the people who work from home in the UK don’t have a dedicated workspace set up, which can lead to other problems down the line.

Furniture at Work created an image of what the e

Could working from home be costing you more money?

During the winter months, we all saw an increase in energy costs. Those working at home throughout winter would have definitely seen their energy bills skyrocket. Having access to a company provided office means less energy and heating used during the day, lowering your overall bills and saving you money. Plus, with Winter being a notoriously hard month, travelling to an office provides some social interaction and can be a big boost to the mental health of your employees.

How can I improve my office environment to entice workers in?

As a business, there are a few ways we could improve office working to encourage employees to come into the office more and reap the benefits of an office environment.

We’ve also included a few tips of what we have done at Next Chapter to improve office culture and overall staff satisfaction:

1. Offer the same flexibility as working from home – start/finish times and the days you need or want to work from home
2. Dog friendly offices – although this isn’t possible for all jobs and not all environments due to allergies, health and safety, and religions, where possible it could encourage those who have a dog to bring it into the office.
3. Travel expense allowance – although remote working does eliminate the commute time, if a workplace offered an incentive to come into the office, maybe more people would be willing to make the journey. Obviously this will have to be controlled in someway and have a cap but get creative!
4. Condense days – one benefit a workplace could offer, if possible, could be condensed days where employees have the option to work longer on some days to finish earlier on others, or even get a day off without having to take it as annual leave.
5. Coffee and Snack boxes – in our office, we wanted to do something for our staff that made their life slightly easier. So, we introduced a snack box delivery to the office so that our staff don’t have to think about spending extra money throughout the day. We also invested in a top-line coffee machine, which offers a variety of different types of coffee, eliminating the need for employees to buy themselves coffee through the day. We also offer alternative milk and other refreshments for our staff.
6. No need to take annual leave for appointments – although we ask for doctors appointments to try be made outside of work hours or on lunch, we understand that most of the time this isn’t possible. When this occurs, our staff are able to attend doctors’ appointments without having to take it as leave.

Next Chapter, supporting staff through hybrid work styles

Clearly, full-time remote working isn’t as great as we all first thought. While the time saved on commuting is useful, the multiple drawbacks can lead to negative effects on your mental health, career progression and overall long-term happiness.

As more and more offices move to a hybrid model, we’re excited to see how this affects both business growth and employee satisfaction and will continue to explore the opportunity of a full-time return to the office.

Let us know what you think on our social channels. Do you think remote and hybrid working styles are here to stay? Or are you a firm believer that a full-time office is the best option?

Want to start a project with Next Chapter? Get in touch to push your brand to the next level – whether you’re working from home, the office, or even the moon.