As remote working is being widely used due to the spread of COVID-19, almost two-thirds of employees believe this form of working will become more common once the threat of the virus passes.
This research was conducted by Citrix, a provider of digital workplace solutions, which found that 65 per cent of employees think working from home will be more of a norm following COVID-19.
Prior to the outbreak, the UK was already leading the way in remote working in Europe, with 45 per cent of employees already working from home at least once a week. In comparison to other countries, Germany offers remote working to 43 per cent, France 26 per cent and Italy 22 per cent.
We are leading the way for flexible working in Europe. However, the Scandinavian countries seem to be good at implementing it as well.
However, 57 per cent of German workers have a home office set up for remote working compared to 41 per cent of UK employees. Over a third (38 per cent) of UK workers say they maintain a balance between work and social life whilst working from home, but 30 per cent said they work longer whilst at home. Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) do say their productivity is either higher or the same as in the office.
Employers can assist employees by providing them with the relevant technologies to work at home, with Citrix advising that companies should provide suitable technologies themselves to create secure remote work environments.
Darren Fields, vice president UK & Ireland, Citrix said:
Employers need to provide their staff with the necessary technology to work flexibly with access to intuitive, user-friendly systems that enable – rather than hamper – collaboration and productivity, whether in the office or working from their kitchen table. The home office will become an integral part of the British work culture, with widespread adoption in future rather than the company or industry-specific approaches to remote working we have seen to date. Today’s global health crisis shows that enabling remote working is the right way forward. Every office worker who can currently work from home is able to not only do their job, but also support society as a whole to help us to navigate this crisis and reach the best possible outcome as quickly as possible.
Citrix and OnePoll, a survey-led marketing research company carried out a survey of 1,000 UK office workers to gather these results.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
