Are you missing this too while working from home?

By Professor Stephen Bevan, Head of Research Development, ies

At this time of year, you would either be a reluctant joiner or enthusiastically embracing National Christmas Jumper Day and enjoying the office Christmas party alongside Bob in accounts and Sue in HR.  But the majority of white-collar workers are not back in their offices and in no hurry to return, according to our early findings from our major research project titled Work After Lockdown.  Seven in ten (73%) of those we surveyed for our national employee wellbeing quantitative survey would like to carry on working from home. Nine out of ten (88.5%) said they got as much done or no less than in the office and 64% rated the ability to work flexibly as the best feature. But eight out of ten workers (82%) miss the informal contact with their colleagues that the pressure of working from home during lockdown has squeezed. It’s this social deficit that workers feel is the worst aspect of working from home.

While workers in our survey valued the freedom to decide their own schedule, plan their workload and use their initiative, maintaining their high rate of productivity took its toll on how they felt. Almost half of respondents reported more fatigue than usual and more noticeable aches and pains, 41% reported loss of sleep through worry and almost a third said they had headaches or migraines.  

But it’s the responses on mental health - universally low at 47 out of 100 as measured by the WHO5 global standard - that are a warning flag. Perhaps surprisingly, those who had better mental health included those who thought of themselves as extroverts. Apart from the recruitment process, personality traits do not usually play a major part in how you are likely to be managed at work. But as we find out more about the impact of working differently through a pandemic what kind of person you are may affect how you adjust, adapt and sustain new ways of working.

There are some emerging theories about the difference between extroverts and introverts. If you are an introvert, you might enjoy being at home but the unending use of technology to connect to colleagues and having to perform on camera can be emotionally draining. Introverts need the psychological resources to refresh. They need periods of isolation. Turning off the camera could be a warning sign that someone is not coping with this new way of performing and a sharp line manager can act on those cues. In our survey those with poorer mental health did not have frequent contact with their manager. So, if you are an introvert, working at home alone away from colleagues it may be harder to reach out and admit that you need help. An alarming six in ten respondents were unaware whether there was an employee assistance programme (EAP) available to them online or by phone via their employer.

This early stated preference for working from home echoes those of the national data in Understanding Society, Covid-19 Study. Our survey respondents cited the time and cost saved in not commuting and more family time as clear benefits. As our research progresses it will be interesting to see if these preferences change. There may be hybrid models of working with some time spent in a hub office and the rest of the time spent at home. Employers may have to find ways to replicate the informal contact and collaboration that occurs in an office environment on a day-to-day basis.

Perhaps wearing a silly jumper at this time of year or a silly hat does more than just raise money for good causes it does us all good.