WHERE IS MY DESK?
As the countdown begins to more freedom for us to move and meet, coupled with the promise to an end of those long months of ground-hoggery, we invited companies throughout Cheshire to share their views on the challenges they faced from home working.
- Poor internet connection
With over 40% of the population of *1.1m people throughout Cheshire living in rural areas, the quality of internet connectivity was included as a key factor likely to impact on quality of work from home.
The number of participants who listed this as their biggest challenge was 8%
- Distraction by homelife
Approximately *23% of the total population are under 19 years of age. With the withdrawal of all but essential on-site schooling for the first two months of the year, this figure provides an indication of the number of households who have also been obligated to add home-schooling to the work from home mix. This was the largest contributor to work from home stress.
The number of participants who listed this as their biggest challenge was 42%
- Lack of space
89% of business in Cheshire is classed as a micro business, with no more than 2 employees. Work from home is more likely to be a known factor for these businesses, however, furlough and remote working during the pandemic has raised the level of homebased population exponentially. Leading to the potential to place an increased strain on place and space for work and education at home.
The number of participants who listed this as their biggest challenge was 17%
- No change of scene
Even for an established population of primarily home-based working age adults, the loss of face-to-face activities such as networking, meetings, professional development and work and social events has dramatically reduced the variety, space and social interaction previously enjoyed by most. The sense of isolation, challenges of maintaining healthy relationships and risk to mental health have all been amplified by lockdown measures.
The number of participants who listed this as their biggest challenge was 33%
What this tells us
Read any report and you will be reinforced with the indication that remote working will continue to be widely adopted by businesses of all sizes. The move towards hybrid working (a combination of home and office-based work) looks likely to be the preferred choice for those businesses with the infrastructure to support it. But for those companies who continue to work from home, consideration needs to be given to the physical and mental impact lockdown has had on their business and the positive measures that can be taken to address it. The opportunity to safely interact with a community of like-minded business professionals on a regular basis is more important than ever. Co-working spaces like Corspace should be able to offer flexible work packages for every budget, to meet the needs of a workforce who now require the connectivity, focus, dedicated space and variety for their business to re-energise and thrive.
Author: Jayne Ford – 09/03/2021
Jayne runs her own advertising and marketing consultancy and is commercial manager and original team member of Corspace, a high-quality flexible workspace in Crewe. www.corspace.co.uk
*Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2018, National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2018, National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2012, Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2012, Postal Boundaries © GeoLytix copyright and database right 2012, Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2012. Data sources: UK Census 2011, Population estimates.