There’s more to working in an office than the commute

18th January 2021

Since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, the UK has experienced local and national lockdowns, with hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs and many more making the abrupt shift to home working. 

 

Lockdown, social distancing and self-isolation has tested the resolve of many people, but working from home while managing changes to their personal circumstances has also been a challenge. Avoiding the commute is often touted as one of the major benefits of working from home, but there are also negative consequences of home working that need to be considered before it is built into a business’s long-term strategy.

 

The normalisation of home working

 

 

The pandemic has rapidly increased the take up of remote and flexible working, with an almost six-fold rise since the start of lockdown. For many people, the switch to home working some of the time has been a positive experience, with research suggesting that, in the future, more than half of employees want to work from home for part of the week.

 

Thanks to the pandemic, we have learned that, given a decent broadband connection and access to a laptop, most people can get their jobs done from home. Some of the benefits of home working for employees include the ability to work more flexible hours and to reduce the amount of time lost to the commute. However, that only really tells half the story. 

 

Over the past decade, many big companies have reversed their work-from-home policies to get people back into the office and talking face-to-face. Without an office, those companies have found that employees rarely see each other as a group, there’s a lack of social connection, ideas are not shared, innovation suffers and there’s a dearth of teamwork and culture. That’s many of the things a small business needs to be successful. 

 

Everything in moderation

 

 

Homeworking is proven to be most successful when it’s used as part of a hybrid remote-office way of working. The truth is that most workers want the best of both worlds. This is backed up by the research:

 

• Nine-in-ten employees preferring to have the option to work remotely
• Only 31% want to work from home for four or five days a week
• 35% would prefer to work from home for two or three days a week
• While 25% would like to spend just one day a week working remotely.

 

While wasting less time commuting is the biggest benefit of working from home for more than half of employees (54%), this research shows that they still recognise the many benefits an office can bring. Just a few of the benefits associated with working in an office include:

 

• More Social interaction – The face-to-face social interaction that takes place in offices helps to build a sense of togetherness and culture while working in-person with others generates creativity and innovation. 
• Better mental health – Working from an office creates a work-life boundary that can reduce the number of hours people work and improves mental wellbeing.
• Returning to normal – After the impact the pandemic has had on all of our lives, returning to the office for some of the time will become an important part of a sustainable ‘new normal’. 

 

Get the best of both worlds with our serviced office spaces

 

 

How can small businesses with tight budgets achieve this highly desirable remote-office way of working?

 

The serviced office spaces we offer here at Masterlord Office Village are the perfect solution. With flexible arrangements available, small businesses can benefit from the social interaction, creativity and sense of culture working together in an office brings, while also giving employees the option to work from home one or two days a week. 

 

The fully furnished serviced office spaces also benefit from a range of facilities, such as an on-site cafe and creche, which can help employees adapt to their changing circumstances and the new normal. Masterlord offer a wide range of office, industrial and production space suitable for all businesses.

 

From serviced offices within the popular Business Centre or stand alone units on the estate. With flexible terms, onsite management and a range of space to choose from, Join the Masterlord Office Village community, the ideal business location to make your next move.

 

Call 01473 276100 or email info@masterlord.co.uk to find out more about the serviced offices at Masterlord Office Village.