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FOCUS FEATURE www.thefis.org 19 and larger home that commuting further may allow us to obtain,” she said. “The implication is that we are spending our limited and valuable time participating in an activity that is not good for our wellbeing.” Benefits The main benefit to working remotely is that people have a better work-life balance, Chris Richmond, Head of UK Real Estate at PwC and a board member at the British Council for Offices (BCO), recently stated in an interview with the BCO. Chris said his own company’s shift to mass working from home happened almost overnight. He said it had been “an easy transition” and that staff had been able to operate effectively. “The feedback coming to us from questionnaires sent to people working from home is that they have been equally as productive, and in some cases more productive, working from home,” Chris said. One of the concerns people formerly had about working from home was that they wouldn’t be able to stay connected, but since the enforced lockdown communication had been good and there had been no issues with people logging in remotely. He described the company’s IT department as ‘absolute heroes’ in this regard. “Nobody is late, everything is punchy and the video calls are always productive – normally because it has got a specified time to run,” he said. “You then feel that you still have a lot of productive time ahead of you, and the reason people feel that is because they have not had to have that commute.” Commercial build future So does this mean a drastic change in the number of office builds and fit-outs required going forward? Chief Executive of the BCO, Richard Kauntze, thinks not. While acknowledging that lockdown has prompted a lot of speculation and things will undoubtedly change in the future, Richard has said it is evident that the office will still have a firm place for future business. “Mixed working will probably become more popular and some of the stigma around working from home will fade away, with people working from home more than they used to,” he said. “However, the office will remain our most popular place of work. Rumours of its demise are much exaggerated.” Research commissioned by the BCO, which is the representative body for the UK’s office sector, reveals that only 20% of UK adults plan primarily to work from home in the future, while 16% hope the office is replaced by working from home. The survey, which polled 2,000 adults nationwide, found that 38% do not plan to work from home at all, and 27% plan to work from home for less than half of the working week, or on an ad hoc basis. Of those questioned in the survey, 34% miss socialising with colleagues, 35%miss getting out of the house or being in the centre of town and 25%miss having a physical distinction between work and leisure. Dave Cook, who researches societies/ cultures and their development at University College London, described the Covid-19 lockdown as “the biggest remote work experiment in history” in a recent online blog. “The paradox of remote working is that people crave the flexibility but know that being around others boosts productivity,” Dave states in his blog. “My research shows that over time remote workers crave the physical closeness that comes with just being alongside other people.” Dave is amongst those who believe that co-working venues will play a bigger role following Covid-19 lockdown release. Before the outbreak hit, co-working spaces were projected to increase more than 40%worldwide. Dave said those currently having to work from ill-equipped, cramped living spaces are desperate for alternatives and will turn to cafes and co-working spaces that are still in business after lockdown. Ongoing surveys within the public and private sectors suggest that, while many employers and employees will want to reassess how they work, the office still has a place in the future of UK industry – but in a much different capacity (see our feature ‘ Office of the future ’). “The paradox of remoteworking is that people crave the flexibility but know that being around others boosts productivity.” Dave Cook, Researcher - societies/cultures, University College London Daily commuting has been proven to adversely affect our psychological and physical health.