While the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the publication of hundreds of articles about the amazing innovation that is homeworking, articles about the return to work have been somewhat less common. How come? The answer may be tucked away in the small print of a recent survey report.

The survey, conducted by YouGov on behalf of the BBC, was intended to reveal attitudes to an eventual return to work. The headline figure is that most respondents did not believe that workers would be returning to the office. In fact, 70% of the 1,684 people polled predicted that the conditions of 2019 “would never return.” A similar proportion stated that they would prefer to work from home, at least some of the time. (No surprises there.)

But tucked away among the survey’s detailed findings there was another, more surprising statistic.

Respondents were asked if they agreed with a statement to the effect that “staying at home would affect creativity and collaboration.” 38% of respondents agreed it would.

What does the management say?

But, when 530 senior business leaders were asked the same question, it turned out that more than half of them regarded homeworking as deleterious to their businesses. (Some even went so far as to call working from home an “aberration”.) So, managers are more likely than workers to express opposition to homeworking.

Now, it isn’t the case that every single manager is opposed. Indeed, it would seem that nearly half of them approve homeworking.

But it does appear that your enthusiasm for homeworking is likely to diminish as you rise through the company hierarchy!

Of course, HR managers are likely to be put off homeworking by the practical difficulties of organising a workforce that spends much of its time offsite. In such cases, LeavePlanner’s absence management software can be a powerful resource…and might enable you to maintain your enthusiasm for the potential of homeworking.

Give us a ring to learn more.