Only a quarter of full-time workers want life to return to the way it was before lockdown, with more than 40% revealing that they like working from home.
So says Eskenzi PR following a nationwide survey of 1,000 home workers, conducted by Censuswide.
The results of the survey also suggest that the longer people spend out of the office, the more acclimatised they become to working from home, with an increase of 13% since a similar survey was conducted by Eskenzi PR in May.
In fact, half of those surveyed do not expect to return to the office before the end of the calendar year, or even into the beginning of 2021, with only 5% of respondents not wanting to work from home in the future. One in five feel they are more productive at home.
LOCKDOWN
The majority of the respondents (60%) did not want to go back to the way things were before lockdown. The desire was particularly strong among ‘Generation X’, as nearly 75% of 45-54-year-olds do not want to return to the old ‘normal’. ‘Millennials’ and ‘Generation Z’, however, are the age groups that would most prefer to go back to the way things were before lockdown, with more than 61% opting for this. This may be due to the increased expectations and pressure on the younger generation, says Eskenzi.
The leading reasons for this shift from traditional work structures were that, while working from home, people were able to: save more money (35%), spend more time with their loved ones (27%), and generally feel less stressed (24%). In fact, almost three quarters (74%) of respondents indicated that they were better off financially because of the lockdown.
Yvonne Eskenzi, founder of Eskenzi PR & Marketing, said: “It’s a fine balance between what’s good for employees versus what’s good for the employer, as office buildings, rents and rates etc still need to be paid.
“One thing is for sure, however, this survey has shown the workplace will never be the same again.”