For most of us, the last 16 months has had a major impact on our day-to-day life. March 2020 saw the entire UK go into lockdown, meaning that all businesses who were able had to start working from home. A lot of people were pleased with the change in working environment, but some were not. There are of course both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to working from home.
One of the main benefits to working from home is saying goodbye to the daily commute. For a lot of us, that would involve leaving the house hours before we were due to start just to make it on time. However, when we’re at home, our commute is just out of our bedrooms and to our laptops. Suddenly we were left with all this time in the morning to do with what we please. For some that may involve an hour or so extra in bed, or getting out and about for a walk before you sit down to start for the day. This has also led to people saying they are more productive when they work from home, as well as being more motivated. From a business perspective, money is being saved on expenses they would normally pay out for if everyone was in the office.
Despite these benefits, working from home isn’t for everyone, with some feeling they lack motivation with the new way of working. Home working can also lead to longer working days as people don’t know when to ‘switch off’. A lot of people found their mental health took a big hit due to feeling isolated. Work can be intensified and there is often strain on teams who would benefit more from working together in the office. The overlap between your personal life and work life can be difficult to manage, especially when you’re in a video call and your dog starts barking at the postman (we’ve all been there).
So, what is hybrid working? Well it seems it may be the solution to all the problems we have above. Hybrid working is essentially a split between working from home and going into the office. You reap the benefits of working in the comfort of your own home, whilst also being able to get some normality and structure back from spending a few days at the office. Many companies are starting to do two days in the office and three days from home.
Monday seems to be a popular day to go to the office, to start the week with meetings and touching base with colleagues and bosses. Tuesday and Wednesday are days spent at home to action everything you planned on Monday, Thursday you go back to the office for review, and Friday is another work from home day before we dive back into the weekend.
The pandemic has forced us to challenge our routine of being in the office Monday-Friday 9-5. We now know there are a huge amount of benefits from spending some time working from home for employees and employers alike. What do you think of the idea of Hybrid working? Would you rather spend all your time at one place? Let us know in the comments down below.
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