Returning to work trends post lockdown

The way we work and how businesses run has forever changed after habits formed during lockdown. One major transformation of COVID-19 has been working from home, this was essential to keeping people employed and businesses running. In the last month, as employees return to the office, we can see a major shift in trends as more people choose to continue to work from home. Although returning to work is now safe for employees, people are noticing that working from home has its advantages.

Anxiety to return to the office 

According to the Press Release from Frog Recruitment who conducted a recent survey, of 1,300 employers they found that “only a third of workers are happy to go back to the office” and more than “70 percent reported as having some level of anxiety around returning to the office”. Over the months of lockdown as both employees and employers have been working from home a new normal has been established. Jane Kennelly of Frog Recruitment said that “people were initially quite stressed setting up their home offices at first but are now comfortable at home”.

Increased demand to work from home

There is a noticeable increase in requests to work-from-home from employees. Even prior to lockdown a survey in the United States conducted by Global Workplace Analytics shows that 80% of employees want to work from home at least some of the time. According to Kate Lister, President of Global Workplace Analytics “Our best estimate is that 25-30% of the workforce will be working-from-home multiple days a week by the end of 2020”.

Increased pressure to be prepared

There is an increased need for those who were not prepared for lockdown to be prepared in the future. Businesses who were not ready for their employees to work from home have learned what worked during lockdown and what didn’t and as a result, they will look to lessen the chances of this happening again so they are better prepared. This includes an increased need for digital security and governance to ensure that the security of your essential business communications are as safe at home as they are in the office.  Digital communication tools such as Cumulo9’s C9 Signature are perfect for assisting with your privacy, compliance, and audit requirements.

Increased Job Satisfaction

Making sure employees are engaged in their role will help with productivity and ultimately help them stay motivated and ready to work. Working from home has helped enable flexible working which noted in a Press Release by Kalkine media is a top perk for many employees across organisations. According to Kalkine media “Working from home is also considered an element of job satisfaction”

With readily available programs such as Zoom, staying in contact, holding meetings, etc is no longer a significant challenge for organisations. Companies can stay connected with their employees whilst ensuring security measures are put in place when working remotely - making it easier for people to work from home.  Being away from the office and traditional support networks make the use of smart technology and tools more important than ever.  Cumulo9’s C9 Campaign has been developed to help you design, personalise and send better email campaigns than ever before – check out the latest release features including drag and drop video functionality.

Can staff demand to work from home?

With staff enjoying their time working from home it is no surprise that some people wish to continue doing so on an ongoing basis. Will New Zealand move away from traditional ways of working? Will workplaces have a more flexible and tailored way of working?

According to a recent Stuff article  Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern has endorsed alternative ways of working “encouraging employers to consider a 4-day working week”.  Jacinta said, “As I’ve said there’s just so much, we’ve learned about Covid and that flexibility of people working from home and the productivity that can be driven out of that,”. Employees can now request a change to their working arrangements through The Employment Relations Act. Things that can be requested include - hours, workspace, working remotely, etc.

Post lockdown there is an obvious trend of continued flexible working throughout organisations. Both employees and employers seem flexible to accommodate various working arrangements. At Cumulo9 we ensure that you have everything you need to make certain your essential business communications are relevant, clear, and secure – whether working from the home or the office (or the beach). We can help make sure your communications are running smoothly wherever your team is working from. Contact us today to find out how Cumulo9 can help you.