Working From Home Shouldn’t Become the New Normal - Both We and Our Families Will Pay the Price If It Does.

By Matthew Greenwood

It was all very novel when Coronavirus started - working from home was the dream that office workers longed for. No more commutes, no more uncomfortable experiences of your boss looking over your shoulder, and fewer early mornings. However, after just a short period of working from home, some people already want to return to the office because working from home just isn’t the dream experience that it was cracked up to be. 

While it might not be too much of a burden to pay for the tea and coffee that you used to take for granted; working from home presents significant difficulties for many people. 

Firstly, the workday has gotten longer. A recent study found that the average workday has increased by 8.2% (48.5 minutes) because workers are spending time after hours sending emails that could have just been conversations they had in the office. In addition, although individual meetings may have decreased in length, they are becoming more frequent. The current effect is that people are spending less time in meetings, but how long will this remain the case? It is no longer as simple as shouting across the office or walking to lunch with the colleague you needed to have a chat with. Meetings need to be arranged, prepared for, and executed – all of which is time consuming.  

A longer workday isn’t the only problem people face. Many people have struggled to look after their children since schools closed, but this problem won’t go away when they’re open again. If school finishes at 3pm but you don’t get off work until 5pm, then chances are the little one will still get under your feet. You could arrange to stop working when they get back and finish up once they’re settled down or fast asleep, but does that sound very ideal? 

What about space? Everyone knows that space comes at a premium these days, especially in big cities that have a high number of entry level workers that haven’t quite escaped to the suburbs just yet. You might just find yourself having to share (or fight over) the kitchen table with your partner or flatmates, if, of course, that’s even an option because your work does not deal with private and confidential information. If it’s not an option, then perhaps sitting on your bed is the right option but that could be an unfortunate mix of work/life/sleep space. 

Then there is the internet, is it fast enough? What about unruly neighbours? The list is truly endless. 

This is why, as we progress further into the period of working at home, lots of people are starting to realise that it just might not be for them. Putting the tongue and cheek aside, working from home could have serious repercussions for lots of people. While a workplace may seem like a mundane setting, it often provides a support network for workers to meet other people, many of whom will have like-minded interests. Working from home will mean that fewer social interactions take place and fewer meaningful relationships are formed through work. This is a lamentable situation.

Worst of all, if working from home becomes the new normal it could have a seriously damaging effect on families and family life. Stress and tension are part of any relationship, no matter how close it is, but bundling people into their homes when they would usually be out working could turn previously happy couples sour.  The results are real and measurable: in March, calls to the National Abuse Hotline in the UK rose by 65%. Not all marriages work but compounding stressors that would usually be defused in everyday life will only mean more fail. The impact of family breakdown ought to be considered when the subject of working from home arises because it is perhaps its most destructive potential effect. 

It seems that this article has travelled a great distance in very few words from the seemingly minor individual hassles created by working from home to the very serious repercussions that all of those hassles can bring about when they are compounded. The result is very serious and we would do well to think about it before trading in our workplace support networks for an hour extra in bed.