It seems that a lot of us have become used to working from our home offices and may even prefer it to travelling into the office every day. The extended period of lockdown that the UK has faced has caused many of us to question what is important to us in order to re-prioritise our time; and home working provides many positive solutions to the work life balance. The health pandemic forcing businesses to make fast adaptations to their working procedures has meant that many can continue their services remotely. Many companies even report increased productivity in many work areas, influencing employers to consider relaxing the usual home working policies. Home working was new to a large majority of the population, and many have now found that their work is still as efficient and effective from home, causing them to consider a change.
Research by a large insurance provider found that a staggering 13 million employees planned to request a change to their work pattern for the long term once lockdown restrictions had been reduced. Additional research found that HR teams had already begun to receive large volumes of requests for various changes to full time work patterns including working from home for part of the week combined with attending the office for work for the remaining time, or working from home completely for the foreseeable future.
The reasons for employees to consider changes to more flexible working practices include:
1. To save money on travel costs
2. To save time not having to commute
3. To reduce pollution levels
4. To spend more time with family
5. To spend more time exercising and becoming healthier
Health, wellbeing, and family relationships are increasingly coming to the forefront of people’s priorities. It appears that after a period of reflection, the pandemic has started a transformation to the work life balance. More people are considering how to lead happier healthier lifestyles by utilising more of the valuable hours in each day.
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