Approximately 80-90% of respondents who have been working from home during the pandemic said they like doing it, and less than 20% of all employees said that they would be unhappy if their employer made working from home compulsory. The complimentary report, “Working From Home Before and After the Pandemic,” suggests that businesses, public bodies and employers in general should prepare to plan for significant changes in many aspects of home and work relating to travel, expenditure patterns, time allocation and lifestyle priorities.
The research also found that the proportion of permanent employees who work from home at least regularly increased by between 92% (U.S.) and 245% (China) during the pandemic. In addition, if employers made working at home compulsory in future, less than 20% of employees would be unhappy about this.
In the U.S., Germany and the UK, the biggest concern about working from home is the inability to communicate with peers and feeling isolated. Chinese employees, by contrast, are most worried about not having the work equipment at home.
“All the evidence suggests that, in spite of all the challenges posed by the pandemic, many employees have discovered that home working offers significant quality of life improvements and are keen not to lose those benefits as economies emerge from the crisis,” says David Mercer, vice president and principal analyst at Strategy Analytics.