Times changed with the advent of COVID-19. People were asked to work from home during lockdown so a lot of businesses* could carry on as (almost) usual.
People were trusted to do their jobs, and actually did them… “nearly 90% thought that their productivity had either stayed the same or improved while working from home”. (How Productive Have Remote Workers Been During Covid?
Adi Gaskell, Forbes)
Distractions like colleagues arriving at each other’s desks to ask questions or for favours, while the other person was half way through a complex task and consequently losing their train of thought; gossiping at the water cooler and focussing on the irritation bubbling up inside at the audacity of workmates crunching crisps or singing to themselves absent-mindedly were left behind by everyone.
For some people with social interaction or communication impairments, the daily stress and anxiety of even simple face-to-face exchanges with colleagues was allayed, for others the energy used to get ready for and to work was saved and then invested in doing more work & bossing it. For some, both of these examples and more applied.
The progress we made has been all but forgotten as there is an increasing push to get people back into the office. So, why, post pandemic are we facing this regression? Was it really progress or just a sticking plaster/comfort blanket to get us through the tough times?
I believe the main reason is the fact that companies have made this U-turn is to justify the expense of premises that they own or rent which in turn impacts corporate visibility. I can understand the merits of this but in a lean approach can give a company a competitive advantage. (I do long for big banks, on the other hand, to refrain from closing branches in smaller towns, for accessibility reasons.) A physical place (on the high street & other areas with higher footfall.) is a status symbol, and a way of attracting impulse custom, which makes good business sense if it’s working…
Some of it might be down to micromanagement, which, in my opinion, is the saddest reason. Permission to work from home shouldn’t be down to the whim of a line manager who wishes to interpret company policies to suit themselves and not trust those under their supervision.
Unfortunately, this all impacts on inclusivity. I feel like some employers are more relaxed about letting parents work from home than other members of the workforce. Everyone should be treated fairly.
Commuting is expensive, time consuming (coming with an opportunity cost) and often bad for the environment. My main concern, however, is for people with disabilities and long term health conditions being forced back into the office or maybe out of a job.
In itself this can adversely impact on mental health, finding yourself dismissed alongside everything else that that implies, like financial worries. Add into that reduced self-esteem as the individual feels that they are no longer contributing to society and their employer didn’t value them enough to accommodate their needs.
An office environment just doesn’t work for everyone. For example, autistic people with hypersensitivity differences or people who are going through cancer treatment themselves or live with someone who is. I wouldn’t want to potentially bring covid, flu, measles or norovirus into my home if that was the case.
Studies have also shown that people who are ill with a cold or similar and work from home carry on and do what they can. Office workers in the same situation tend to phone in sick, costing the employer money.
In my opinion Boots is making a costly mistake. I urge them to rethink and if not, continue making reasonable adjustments. Legally, HR can refuse requests to work from home with up to eight prescriptive reasons, including lack of productivity.
*Sadly, some businesses, in areas like hospitality, did go under & I’m not minimising that at all, I can’t imagine how stressful and upsetting that would have been.