Londoners work from home mainly to avoid the time and cost of traveling to the office, according to a study showing that most believe they are unlikely to spend five more days in the office again.
The cuts in public transport and the high cost of fares act as a major impediment for workers who commute daily to the office, while traffic jams and the rising cost of petrol and diesel, which reached a new peak this week, making car travel unattractive. the survey found.
Only 10% of workers said they thought they would return to the office full-time, compared to 73% who told researchers at King’s College London that working from home at least one day a week would be a feature. permanent of modern life.
Respondents both young and old gave the same positive response to work from home, as did those who voted Labor and Conservative, although a larger number of supporters of Labor than Conservatives were in favor of working from home.
Tara Reich, a human resources management expert at King’s College Business School, said: “The opportunity to work from home has given many London workers a sense of control that they don’t want to give up.”
Among those who say they have experienced positive impacts of working from home, avoiding daily commuting was considered the main benefit by 80%, followed by the ability to manage social responsibilities at home by 66%, with 71% of women who cited it as a factor compared to 60% of men.
The report is expected to alert London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London executives, who need people to return to previous levels of daily commuting from next year, when the government plans that the capital’s transportation system be self-financing.
Other cities, where workers are likely to have an equally positive view of working from home, will also see the results as a blow to revitalize central business districts and plans by tram, bus and train operators to restore more frequent services.
Many employers have reported that staff prefer to work in the office from Tuesday to Thursday and have denounced resistance to returning to pre-pandemic levels of office work.
Amanda Jones, a professor of organizational behavior at the business school, said: “Many more people now have experience working remotely, while organizations and individuals have invested heavily in equipment and training, and those who have forced to work remotely during confinements have developed a remote investment – Working strategies.
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“As a result, many more people not only have the ability to work remotely, but consider it a normal, rather than exceptional, and potentially stigmatizing practice.”
The only concern that respondents revealed in the survey was toward younger workers, who about half believed they would miss out on career opportunities and vital work experience.
The survey of 2,001 people in employment found that 56% believe senior management wants staff to enter the workplace more often, while only 16% said managers approve of work at home.