Employees hope home working sticks, new research finds

The research from Tiger Recruitment is based on a survey of around 900 UK employees and close to 300 employees from EMEA regions.

Employees cite the top three benefits of home working as:

· Saving time by not having to commute (74 percent);

· Saving money by not having to pay for travel or meals at work (73 percent);

· Having more flexibility in how they work (52 percent).

The survey also found that the pandemic has had a positive impact on work for the vast majority (87 percent) of employees.

Respondents said the COVID-19 crisis has taught them to be more adaptable (46 percent) and more open to new ways of doing things (41 percent).

Close to a third (32 percent) of employees surveyed said that working from home makes them feel less stressed and many feel they work more effectively than when they’re in the office. While a quarter (25 percent) say they’re more productive, working at home, and one in five (22 percent) concentrate better.

Asked about the most challenging aspect of working from home, over half of employees cite the lack of social interaction (55 percent). This is the top difficulty by far, followed by not having a dedicated workspace (29 percent) and working more than they should (27 percent).

When the lockdown eases, employees are hopeful that some of the measures introduced during the crisis will stick - 56 percent hope their employers recognise that working from home is good for productivity.