Where does work belong anymore?
The impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the location of work in the UK
The COVID-19 outbreak has forced companies to embrace home-based working (HBW) at such speed that they have had little opportunity to consider the impact on their workers. It can be argued that the crisis has led to the most significant, intensive social experiment of digital, HBW that has ever occurred.
The press have suggested that this revolution “might also offer an opportunity for many companies to finally build a culture that allows long-overdue work flexibility.“ (The Guardian, 13/03/20)
These optimistic takes on the current patterns of work focus on HBW’s emancipatory potential, offering flexibility, the lubrication of work and family responsibilities and the promise of increased productivity.
Yet, this new world order, where the home becomes a multi-occupational, multi-person workplace and school, not only challenges boundaries but also conceptions of the domestic space.
The impact of homeworking is likely to present significant variation depending on organisational support, the worker’s role, socio-economic status, employment status, as well as household composition and size of living space.
There are significant concerns regarding intensified HBW, including poor work-life balance, enhanced domestic tensions and disproportionately negative impacts on those in lower socio-economic groupings.
Moreover, HBW increases the proportion of time women (most often) spend on housework and childcare, reproducing and reinforcing gender roles within the new ‘work-space.’
Project Aims & Outcomes
The Working@Home project examines in-depth this radical shift in working arrangements and how it impacts on the wellbeing and productivity of workers and their households.
Using a combination of in-depth interviews with eighty participants, representing the spectrum of this novel group of homeworkers, as well as a large-scale survey, the Working@Home project provides unrivalled insights into the experience of home-working for the UK population and the lives of citizens in this unprecedented time.
The research sheds light on our understanding of the expectations that organisations have placed on workers, as well as the robustness of support systems that have been put in place, taking into account the rapid advancement of home working systems with almost no preparation and only limited existing support structures or expertise.
The findings provide a benchmark for the resilience of both individuals and businesses and demonstrate the potential for the robustness of the infrastructure in the return to a ‘new normal’ after the crisis.
This website will be hosting up to date information on the project and its findings, guidance for participants, information regarding our webinar series.
Get Involved
Share your experience of home based working by filling out our survey.