Feature
Having workers who feel empowered to improve themselves will benefit businesses in the long term. Returning to the office, where in-person development opportunities can be provided in some form, should therefore figure in employers’ plans for the new year and beyond.
Beware Burnout
Finally, despite numerous predictions to the contrary, working from home has actually been detrimental to our work-life balance. So, businesses should bear in mind that we can embrace greater flexibility without compromising workers’ wellbeing, by returning to the office with a new approach.
Real flexibility allows employees to fit work around their lives, whereas working from home often forces them to do the opposite. One recent survey revealed that 37% of home-workers struggle to switch off from work at all, while a similar number (38%) suffer from anxiety and stress due to being ‘always on’.
This is unlikely to be a coincidence, and this pattern signals a potential mental health crisis which we cannot afford.
Offering workers the choice of returning to an office environment would help remove the ‘false flexibility’ of working from home. We have already seen large corporates such as Standard Chartered make this move recently, with growing numbers likely to follow. A willingness to adapt will not only be well-received by workers but will also build extra agility into businesses.
Returning to offices which are properly equipped to support workers is a far better long-term plan than a wholesale shift towards working from home. Offices provide an irreplaceable platform to safeguard workers’ wellbeing, ensure they enjoy optimal satisfaction in their roles, and buttress their relationships with colleagues and employers. For all these reasons it is vital to return to the office, albeit with new ways of working, as soon as we can do so safely.
¹:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/productivitymeasures/articles/gdpandthelabourmarket/julytoseptember2020
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