Home workers of the world, unite!

The Covid-19 pandemic is mostly a disaster. Governments across the world must balance freezing the economy and limiting personal freedoms against protecting people’s health, with citizens facing similar dilemmas in their own lives.

But one group will have seen a broad upside to the lockdown, which can be retained when it lifts. Office workers throughout Britain and much of the Western world are getting their first taste of working from home. Many of them won’t want to go back.

Although most people will not have enjoyed being stuck at home for so long, few will be missing the drudgery of the daily commute to and from work. A study released in November 2004 claimed that commuters can suffer greater stress than fighter pilots, and even the most serene commuter can lose years of their life moving between home and the office.

Even for those with short commutes, the 9-to-5 working day is a time sink. Something of an industrial relic, it may have made sense when humans were cogs in a factory line, but most office workers’ days ebb and flow between productive periods and outright skiving. Even the most Stakhanovite of employees will check their social media, handle personal admin, or dawdling in front of the coffee machine chatting with their co-workers.

Offices also oblige people to compromise on their ideal working conditions. From the bland décor and arguments over the air conditioning to the distraction machines that are open plan offices, no employer can provide better working conditions than a private office arranged to the tastes of each individual.

The sudden shift to remote working forced on companies will show up people’s real working patterns. While some people can sit still and work in the same spot for long hours, most people will work in bursts, breaking to run personal errands, and using any time formerly given over to office rituals to enjoy life outside the job.

That it has taken a pandemic to show this will strike many as a sign of the boss class’s shortsightedness. Companies and their staff increasingly have the means to work away from the office, but such tools are often restricted.

This resistance to home working stems primarily from managers being afraid they will lose oversight of staff that are out of sight. That plenty of staff can slack off just fine in the office is unlikely to shift them from this view.

However, when confined to remote locations, managers are forced to assess staff on the only thing they can easily monitor: output. While managers can no longer check if you’re still in your pyjamas or whether you’ve taken two hours for lunch, they can see whether the work has been done on time.

This is not to say that the shift to remote working is easy. While some companies will probably be adapting well, many will struggle. Longstanding remote workers note that when people cannot speak face-to-face they need to write more down, improve their video conferencing practices, or open up access to information throughout the company to avoid a logjam of access requests.

Such changes won’t seem attractive to sceptics, who will hope for a return to normal service when the government lifts restrictions on travel. But this is foolish. Many companies need office space for some activities, but most could be saving money on rent and improving their employees’ wellbeing by having more remote working.

And while the government will have plenty to fix as the pandemic abates, it too should encourage a shift that some companies are already making as they adapt to the lockdown. Tackling regional inequality is a losing battle so long as the best jobs remain in London and the southeast. Unchain the workers from their desks and many will take their money away from the commuter belts too.