The establishment of remote working as a common and popular way to perform a day’s labours may have emerged in the unique circumstances of the Covid lockdowns, but the work-life balance benefits have been widely recognised.
People living in Bristol may be at the top of the list of those enjoying other gains as well. This is, after all, a city with notorious traffic problems and a broad acceptance that the public transport infrastructure is not good enough.
While the argument rumbles on over whether Bristol should have some form of underground rail system, those having to commute into the city by car face delays not endured by those whose cities offer better options for rush hour travel.
At the same time, being away from the office does mean you will need some IT support, especially if you are using your own devices such as laptops, as you can be isolated from the IT manager in your workplace. The last thing you want is for your semi-independence to be wrecked by technical failures or vulnerabilities that get exploited by cyber criminals.
Not only would such problems harm your work itself, but they could make your boss more likely to want you to return to the office. Despite the large number of workers (especially among the young) who want to work remotely or on a hybrid basis, there are still many ‘old school’ bosses who take a dim view of remote working.
Among the most prominent is Lord Sugar who, when not telling apprentices “You’re fired”, has recently claimed that those who work from home should be paid less.
However, the founder of flexible working campaign group Flex Appeal Anna Whitehouse has rebuffed his comments, highlighting a University of Virginia study showing the value of such work in keeping mothers in employment.
It revealed for every ten per cent more home workers per sector, the employment gap between mothers and women without children fell by one per cent.
Ms Whitehouse told The Independent that billionaires like Lord Sugar have “no idea what it takes to raise a family or the burden on women”.