• No results found

EXAMINING THE RECENT SURGE IN HOMEWORKING, ITS EFFECT ON PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS LONG-TERM FUTURE

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "EXAMINING THE RECENT SURGE IN HOMEWORKING, ITS EFFECT ON PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS LONG-TERM FUTURE"

Copied!
27
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

EXAMINING THE RECENT SURGE IN

HOMEWORKING, ITS EFFECT ON

PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS LONG-TERM

FUTURE

ALAN FELSTEAD

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

(2)
(3)
(4)

Growth of Homeworking Before,

During and After Lockdown

(5)

Growth of Homeworking: Worker Surveys (1)

Source: own calculations spring/Q2 Labour Force Surveys, 1981-2020

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

%

R

epor

ti

n

g

W

or

ki

n

g

M

ai

n

ly

a

t

H

om

e

2.4%

4.7%

8.6%

1.5%

(6)

Growth of Homeworking: Worker Surveys (2)

Source: own calculations based on the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, April, May, June and July 2020.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

January/February

2020

April 2020

May 2020

June 2020

July 2020

%

of

16+

i

n

e

m

pl

oym

e

nt

(7)

Growth of Homeworking: Worker Surveys (3)

Source: based on data taken from the ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, latest released 4 December 2020.

Late August

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 P er ce n ta ge o f w o ri n g a dul ts

(8)

Growth of Homeworking: Employer Surveys

Source: based on published data taken from the ONS Business Impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) Survey, 7-20 September 2020.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Yes

No

Don't know

Yes

No

Don't know

More working at home prompted by Covid-19

Future use of homeworking

%

of

e

m

pl

oy

e

rs

(9)

Other Evidence:

(10)

But Sales of Jogging Bottoms &

Disinfectant are On the Up!

(11)
(12)

Surges Greatest Among Employees

and the High Qualified

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Employee

Self-employed

Degree

No qualifications

Employment status

Highest qualification

%

of

wor

ke

rs

'a

lwa

y

s'

wor

ki

n

g

a

t

h

om

e

Before

During

(13)

… in Higher Skilled Jobs and Living in

More Prosperous Locations

Source: own calculations based on the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, April, May and June 2020.

0

20

40

60

Managers Professionals Associate professionals

Operatives Elementary North East Wales South East London

Occupation Region/nation

%

of

wor

ke

rs

'a

lwa

y

s'

wor

ki

n

g

a

t

h

om

e

Before During

(14)

… and in Higher Paid Jobs

Source: own calculations based on the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, April, May and June 2020.

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

Office/factory

Sometimes home

Often home

Always home

Net annual pay

Ne

t

an

n

u

al

e

ar

n

in

g

per

a

n

n

um

(

£)

Before

During

(15)

But Not According to Personal

Demographic Profiles

Source: own calculations based on the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, April, May and June 2020.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Men

Women

BAME

White

Impairments

No impairments

Sex

Ethnicity

Disability

%

of

wor

ke

rs

'a

lwa

y

s'

wor

ki

n

g

a

t

h

om

e

Before

During

(16)
(17)
(18)

Theoretical Predictions

Theory

Processes Involved

Predicted Effect of

Homeworking

Situated learning

(Sfard, 1998; Jewson,

2008)

Employees improve their

productivity by watching,

listening and following

colleagues

↓ Lack of co-location reduces

opportunities to learn and

productivity is reduced

Teamworking

(Jarvenpaa and Leidner,

1999; Nandhakumar

and Baskerville, 2006)

Trust relations are built on

face-to-face interactions and

promises

↓ Trust will dissipate in the

absence of face-to-face

encounters and teams will

become less effective

Social exchange theory

(Gouldner, 1960;

Cropanzano and

Mitchell, 2005)

Parties are expected to abide by

unwritten rules and norms of

exchange which generate

reciprocity

↑ Through ‘give and take’

workers will put more effort

into their work in exchange for

working at home

Border theory

(Clark, 2000)

Role conflict may be increased

or reduced – depending on the

permeability of the home/work

boundary

? may ↑ or ↓

Home spill-overs will reduce

productivity, whereas getting

away from work disturbances

may increase it

(19)

Consequences for Productivity:

Worker Evidence (1)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Much more done

per hour

A little more done

per hour

Same done per

hour

A little less done

per hour

Much less done per

hour

%

of

h

om

ewor

k

ing

e

m

pl

oy

ee

s

(20)

Consequences for Productivity:

Worker Evidence (2)

11.8

40.9

34.1

13.2

Homeworkers’ Future Preferences

Never working at home

Sometimes working at home

Often working at home

Always working at home

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Got much more done per hour at home Got much less done per hour at home

% o f h o m ew o rki n g em pl o yee s

Future Homeworing Preferences and Productivity

Change

Never want to work at home again Wants to work at home always

• Nine out of ten employees who

worked at home in June 2020

would like to continue doing so

• Nearly half would like to work

at home often or always

Source: own calculations based on the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, June 2020.

• The most productive are the

keenest to continue working

at home

• ‘Selection effect’ benefits

future productivity

(21)

Consequences for Productivity:

Employer Evidence (1)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Rise

No change

Fall

Don't know

%

o

f em

p

lo

yer

s

Productivity Effect of Homeworking

(22)

Consequences for Productivity:

Employer Evidence (2)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Improved staff well-being Reduced overheads Increased productivity

% o f em pl o yer s

Reasons for Future Use of Homeworking

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Not suitable for business

Not sure Reduced communication Reduced productivity % o f em pl o yer s

Reasons for Not Using Homeworking in the

Future

Source: based on published data taken from the ONS Business Impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) Survey, 7-20 September 2020.

• Nearly one third of employers

say that increased productivity

is one of the benefits of

making working at home a

permanent feature

• Only one in twenty

employers give reduced

productivity as a reason

for not using homeworking

in the future

(23)

Increased Levels of Homeworking

Are Here to Stay

(24)

Are the Business Benefits

Sustainable?

• Issue needs to be

tracked

• Hopeful that the

Covid-19 Study will

provide the vehicle

to do so

• Theories may kick-in

at different points

(25)

Why? Because there are Limits to

(26)

Summary

1. The dramatic growth in homeworking

followed a period of slow but gradual change

2. Those with better jobs have experienced the

most dramatic change

3. Productivity has not been adversely affected

4. Homeworking – may be in hybrid form – is

(27)

Some Further Reading

https://wiserd.ac.uk/publications/homeworking-uk-and-during-2020-lockdown

Diolch yn fawr iawn am wrando arnaf i/

Thank you for listening to me

References

Related documents

Swivel chair, upholstery design, autofit-synchronous mechanism, air-pressure lumbar support, brilliant silver aluminium star

We showed that complex cognitive emergency care skills of 4th-year medical students were not improved by adding open patient cases as part of a (high-fidelity) simulation game

Data jednotlivých proměnných budou získána z internetových stránek Českého statistického úřadu (ČSÚ) a České národní banky (ČNB).. Následně bude vymezen pojem

• Where the general body part values Upper and Lower are provided as an option in the Upper Arteries, Lower Arteries, Upper Veins, Lower Veins, Muscles and Tendons body systems,

The “consolidated department” results include, in addition, MoJ’s four executive agencies who publish their own separate accounts: the National Offender Management Service (NOMS);

October 2009 Initiator and Conference Chair for the 2nd international Service Design Network Conference, Madeira Portugal September 2010 Jury: Vienna Design Innovation. October

Finally, because caching, prefetching, and speculative loading represent the three fun- damental approaches that a client can improve resource loading in mobile browsers, our

The analysis of three-nodes motifs where the colour of the node reflects its high – white node or low – black node centrality in the social network is presented in the paper..