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Remote working has become the norm for many across East Anglia, but with government’s ‘work from home if possible’ advice now lifted city centres are waiting to see if office workers will return.
Prior to the pandemic, there was a slow trend towards working from home, but the announcement of the first lockdown in March 2020 saw an overnight shift to remote working.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in June 2021 found that there was an average rise from 27pc in 2019 to 37pc in 2020 in staff working from home.
And this way of working quickly proved popular with staff.
According to the ONS, workers highlighted work-life balance as the greatest positive. Meanwhile, challenges of collaboration were seen as the biggest negative.
The popularity of home working has meant that some firms have had to reconsider how and where their staff work, even as Covid restrictions end.
Norwich-based insurance giant Aviva, for example, is requesting 4,500 staff return to the office this week, but workers can continue working remotely part of the time.
A spokesperson for Aviva said: “Throughout the various phases of lockdown, our offices have remained open, with measures in place to keep them safe for colleagues who needed to be in.
With the ‘work from home’ guidance removed in England, most colleagues will now spend around three days a week on average in an office.
“We strongly believe that Aviva is a better company when we combine the benefits and energy we get from being in the office with the balance we get from working from home.”
Meanwhile, AXA UK, an insurance company that has roughly 680 staff at its Ipswich office, is also embracing hybrid working.
Zoe Ashdown, head of people engagement, culture and strategy at AXA UK, said: “AXA UK is taking a test and learn approach to hybrid working which enables us to give our colleagues greater flexibility to get the most out of their working day, while maintaining our usual high standards for customers.
“At the start of the pandemic we implemented ‘Smart Working’. This places a focus on increased movement between working locations, whether that be remote or from a physical office – we call this travelling with purpose.”
Workers have said work-life balance is one of the main benefits of working from home
– Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
During the pandemic there was a decisive split between firms that could have staff working from home and those that couldn’t. This resulted in those with remote workers being able to carry on operating during the pandemic, while many of those who needed staff onsite had to close down completely during lockdowns.
According to figures from the ONS, the IT and communication sector had the highest number of staff who were able to work from home. Meanwhile, workers within the accommodation and food service industries were the least likely to be able to work from home.
Along with having the least number of remote workers, it will likely come as no surprise that those within the accommodation and food service industries had the highest number of staff on furlough during 2020.
This compares to sectors where working from home was possible, which had the least number of furloughed staff.
Impact of working from home on city centres
The move to remote working has had a significant impact on city centres, especially on independent businesses such as coffee shops and restaurants that depend on trade from office workers.
Strangers Coffee on All Saints Green in Norwich is located near the Aviva building – the perfect position to serve workers from the insurance firm – and Giles Haywood-Smith from Strangers Coffee was anticipating that Monday would see office workers return and an increase in customers as a result.
He said: “I ordered an awful lot of milk as I was told that Aviva would be back to work on Monday 31, but it didn’t happen. It should have been the great return but it didn’t materialise.
“Before the pandemic from Monday to Friday, between 8am to 12pm, I used to have a queue of customers. The week before the first lockdown we had our busiest week ever of trading.
“80pc of my customer trading was Aviva and we need that trade to keep going.
“But it must be having a knock-on effect for all the businesses in the city.”
Offices: Enticing workers back
Despite the growth in working from home, Guy Gowing, managing partner at Norwich based property and lettings firm Arnolds Keys, explained that the office lettings market has remained stable, with no influx of offices to let coming on the market.
Guy Gowing, Arnolds Keys.
– Credit: Arnolds Keys
Commercial property owners and landlords have, however, had to invest in refurbishing offices to make the working environment attractive to staff to entice them back into the
workplace.
He said: “People have got comfortable working from home. They can be with their dog or make an espresso when they want.
“There has been a high quality of refurbishment to offices to get people willing to come back to the office. They have enhanced offices to make offices more attractive to workers.
“The majority of workforce want to get back to the office. Working from home has had an
impact on mental health. People want the social interactions that comes from working in the office.
“Workers new to companies need to be in the office to help their career development.”
Working from home: the statistics
Of businesses that continued trading up to June 2021, 24pc stated that they intended to use increased homeworking going forward, with the information and communication industry recording the highest proportion (49pc).
Those aged 30 to 49 years were most likely to report working from home, with almost half
(45pc) saying so compared with around one-third of those aged 16 to 29 years (34pc) and 50 to 69 years (32pc).
Online job adverts including terms related to ‘homeworking’ increased at a faster rate than
total adverts, with homeworking adverts in May 2021 three times above their February 2020 average.
Of working adults homeworking last year, 85pc wanted to use ‘hybrid’ approach of both home and office working in the future.
Just 32pc of businesses in June 2021 stated that they were not sure what proportion of the workforce will be working from their usual place of work.
Source: Office of National Statistics (June 2021)
Is working from home here to stay?
Although bosses and some workers are keen to return to the office, it looks like remote working may continue as in the current challenging recruitment climate for employers, offering working from home is one way of attracting staff.
Rebecca Headden, co-director of R13
– Credit: Rebecca Headden
Rebecca Headden, co-director of Norwich-base recruitment agency R13, has noticed an increase in firms offering working from home.
She said: “Businesses have mostly acclimatised to offering at least some element of working from home where it is physically possible. Some businesses are now just 100pc working from home, and this has opened up the talent pool to include people from all over the UK/world.
“Some businesses are offering a hybrid approach, some days from home, some from the
office. Some are having designated days in the office and flexibility for people to work the
rest from home.
“There are a few who are just back in the office, but hiring for those roles has become more and more challenging. The majority of people seem to expect that flexibility option
now.
“Working from home is definitely here to stay. We’re also seeing businesses offer flexible
working hours, so people can attend appointments or do the school run, and then make up
the time in hours outside of the usual nine to five, with much success.”
The trend towards remote working looks like it is here to stay, especially in a challenging
recruitment for employers looking to attract staff, many of whom want to work from home.
Ms Headden said: “There is a huge shift to working from home and it can be a deal breaker for candidates in the market more often than not. People have ‘proven concept’ that they can work effectively from home, so in most instances, they don’t understand Why they shouldn’t be allowed to continue to do so after a training period.”
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