Surface Ripples

COVID and Working From Home

One of the most visible results of the COVID pandemic was the increase in the number of people working from home (WFH).  This has continued as part of the employment landscape. 

My daughter’s company, for example, allows her to work from home two days out of every five (but whether this is a result of the pandemic or their normal policy, I don’t know).

An interesting survey appeared in April about the effects of COVID and the WFH phenomenon in the US. Among the results were:

• The workforce WFH became both younger and more diverse.
• The number WFH tripled from 5.7% in 2019 - 17.9% in 2021, due to restrictions on movement brought on by COVID.
• The number of drivers, car-poolers and public transport users declined, obviously due to movement restrictions.
• The 25 - 34 age group of WFH-ers increased from 16% - to 23% between 2019 - 2021.
• The number of people WFH who had college degrees increased from 50% to over 66%.
• Amongst those who had moved house in the 2019 - 2021 period more were likely to be those working from home. 

The industries that saw the greatest jump in employees working from home were IT (10.4% - 42% - no surprises there), finance, insurance and real estate (10.8% to 38.4%) and professional and admin roles (12.6% to 36.5%).  These are industries that lend themselves more to WFH. 

Among the industries that posted the smallest gains in staff WFH were agriculture, mining, entertainment, food, services, and the armed forces. Again, no surprises here. These industries require people to be “on site”.

Those earning the highest salaries and working from home saw their income triple, whilst even the lower-paid saw their income double.  This may have been due to employers needing to maintain headcount and productivity in order to continue providing goods and services and maintain profitability. 

Main factors affecting ability to work from home were:

• Availability of Internet access (needless to say, tech-heavy areas with superior internet access had a higher proportion of people working from home).
• Job location: it wouldn’t matter if your job was sited far from where you lived or close by, as long as you had robust internet access. My son, who works in the IT industry, is now entirely based at home after his employer found it cheaper to close their Kent HQ. 
• Whether people needed to commute either by personal or public transport.

With the increase in people WFH and their incomes, it’s hardly surprising that WFH is, most likely, here to stay. Employers will have seen gains from reduced need for office space, cost of utilities, and other outgoings associated with maintaining offices full of staff.

Does this presage a complete restructuring of the global economy? My opinion is that more people will continue to WFH and to expect this as a “standard” part of their terms of employment. Industries that require workers to be on site (see above) will see comparatively little difference, although they may wage bills increase to retain staff who would otherwise be tempted to seek employment in areas where working from home was possible.  The impact of this on part-time or shift-based jobs may be lower. 

Each of us will have to react to this new situation based on the needs of our customers and our business.

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.

Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 09:12