A recent piece of research into the impact of remote working on employees shows that how work is done has changed rapidly as a result of the Covid-19 pandamic and that new ways of working presents new challenges for employees in lockdown.
The Anatomy of Work: Remote Teams, a research report produced by Asana, shows that less than half (41%) of UK employees are working the same hours that they fulfilled in the office. And over half (57%) say they’re taking more breaks and whilst the popularity of remote meeting software is skyrocketing 36% are having fewer meetings.
The UK findings, based on the response of 1,016 adults, provides great insight for L&D teams. If colleagues are working at different times of the day, in different ways with a set of new remote working-related challenges, then what does this mean for L&D?
Here are the stats in full . . .
Working routine
- 30% say they are starting their working day earlier,
- 27% are working later in the evening and
- 24% are working while juggling other priorities such as childcare.
Work and home schooling
- 85% of UK employees with school-age children are balancing homeschooling with work
- 16% of these parents are starting work later
- 32% are starting work earlier
- 41% are blocking out time over lunch to be with their family
- 25% are finishing work earlier and then working into the evening
- Nearly four in five (79%) say this situation is significantly impacting their work
- 77% admit to finding it hard to switch off in the evenings.
Remote work set-up
- 67% did not have at least one of the following: a desk to work from, PC/laptop or a reliable internet connection.
- 31% say they are working from a desk
- 35%) are working predominantly from a dining/kitchen table
- 20% are getting their job done from their sofa
- 5% admitted to working from their bed.
Remote working life
- 62% of full-time workers have increased their use of collaboration tools such as Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams
- 19% are using these tools for the first time
- Self-discipline (45%), stress about the current health and/or economic situation (36%) and “feeling like I can’t switch off” (23%) also featured highly on the list.
