Are Large Bustling, Office Spaces a Thing of the Past?
During the past year all businesses have been forced to adapt to new ways of conducting business. The bustling business areas are no longer full of businessmen and women heading into local coffee shops for a quick lunch break before scurrying back to their offices for more meetings and phone calls. The tall glass office spaces that tower amongst the London skyline, now dormant and without life.
This has been replaced with group virtual meetings through a laptop screen, conducted in various rooms of the home to carry out the necessary tasks of the day. Could this perhaps be the future of the work landscape?
What is the General Consensus Regarding Working From Home?
Researchers at Cardiff and Southampton University conducted a survey with over 6,000 participants to discover what their views were regarding working from home. The results demonstrated that almost 90% of those participants would be more than happy to continue working from home, whether it was part time or even permanently.This is a significant change in attitudes. Previously only 6% of people worked from home prior to the pandemic. By April 2020 this number had increased significantly to 43%. Yet now in March 2021, this figure currently stands at 60%.
The percentage of people that currently do follow this trend, at least 9 out of 10 are adamant that they are saving cash each week, by not having to spend money on travel and lunch. So you can see why this has become a popular way to work instead when it allows you to work in a comfortable space yet also save up some much needed pennies.
The Benefits of Working From Home
Realistically you can see why the majority of people that were surveyed, believe that it is far more comfortable to work from the comfort of your own home. All you need is a good internet connection, one of the cheapest Samsung smartphone contracts and a laptop to be able to conduct your daily tasks. You also do not need to spend several hours a day commuting into the city centre, with no space to sit down, nestled between other commuters.
Another positive is that it allows you to see the loved ones that you live with more frequently, with the opportunity to have a nice home cooked evening meal together. When you usually work long hours each day and return home late at night from the office, it does not allow you to spend much time with your family members, which over time can be disruptive to personal life.
It is looking more likely that the landscape of the working office is going to be very different once lockdown measures ease, and it is in the companies interest to perhaps follow this trend if they want their workforce to continue to be productive.
