11.05.2020

One in six employees wish to work from home permanently

The Engaging Works Working From Home Survey Reveals Likes and Dislikes of Setting Up Office at Home

Data from Engaging Works reveals that 16% of the UK’s at home workforce want to remain working from home once the current lockdown is over.

The Working from Home Survey by Engaging Works, which has been taken by over 3,000 employees since the lockdown began, shows that 60% would prefer a split; working a couple of days a week from home yet still commuting to the office.

The survey also provides an employee’s Working From Home Happiness Score, with the average score revealed to be 73%, higher than the average Workplace Happiness Score which averages at 65% in the UK. When it comes to gender, men and women rank their happiness at working from home the same.

The research highlights that employees enjoy the autonomy of working from home (scoring an average of seven with the option of 0 for disagree and 10 for agree for the statement) and feel that they are more productive in their at home office (six out of 10).

However, one in five employees are sick of transforming their home into their office and would like to return to their workplace as soon as the lockdown finishes. Reasons for this include feeling more isolated, finding the boundaries between work and home blurred as well as admitting to working more irregular hours. Working more weekends however is not something that the nation’s at home workforce is embracing.

Respondents listed what they would improve in their at home working environment with common wishes include having a bigger house, having at home childcare and a padlock on their fridge.

Comment from Engaging Works Founder, Lord Mark Price; “In recent weeks businesses and employees have had to transform how they work, it’s been a big upheaval which can have knock on affects with performance and happinesslevels.A workforce which is happy and engaged is likely to be 20% more commercially successful compared to teams with unhappy employees.

“Video conferencing is uniting work forces in an unprecedented way, resulting in employers re-evaluating the need for costly offices. If employers can ensure that employees are happy and productive when working from home, then the need for teams to be physically together becomes unnecessary.”

The Working At Home Survey by Engaging Works can be quickly tailored to organisations and can include questions from the current Engaging Works Workplace Happiness Survey. The results will provide useful data and insights to help organisations maintain a remote but happy and engaged workforce. Questions in the survey include asking if employees feel that they are trusted to make decisions from home, have all the information they need, and if they are happy with the environment they work in.

In recent weeks Engaging Works has seen a 220% increase in requests for the Working At Home Survey from companies who, in light of recent events, now have all or the majority of their employees working from home. Most businesses reveal that in the first one to two weeks of working remotely it is crucial that employees feel supported through communication.

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