Working from home has become the norm for many people, including some estate agents – and not just those who are self-employed – since the coronavirus pandemic. But has working from home meant a generation of people “not doing proper work”?
The pandemic has highlighted the viability of estate agents and other property professionals working from home for at least part of the week in recent years. But the former boss Marks & Spencers and Asda has caused a stir by claiming that working from home had harmed employee productivity.
Lord Rose told BBC One’s Panorama, which you can watch on iPlayer: “We have regressed in this country in terms of working practices, productivity and in terms of the country’s wellbeing, I think, by 20 years in the last four.
“We are creating a whole generation and probably a generation beyond that of people who are used to actually not doing what I call proper work. I believe that productivity is less good if you work from home. I believe that your personal development suffers, that you’re not going to develop as well as you might if you’ve been in the workplace as long as I have.”
The number of people working from home in the UK more than doubled between December 2019 and March 2022 from 4.7 million to 9.9 million, as the Covid pandemic forced people into lockdowns from March 2020 onwards. Since then a high proportion of people have continued to work from home even though pandemic restrictions have long disappeared. Office workers were by far the most affected.
Several big companies have told workers they must come into the office more or even abandon hybrid working completely. Should estate agencies who allow staff to work from home follow suit?
A psychology professor from Birmingham City University (BCU) has criticised comments that working from home is not ‘proper work’
The government plans to introduce flexible working by default in the upcoming Employment Rights Bill, currently going through committee stage in parliament, although whether this will protect home working is up for debate as the proposed reasons to refuse employee requests are very similar to existing legislation.
Craig Jackson, professor of occupational health psychology at BCU, said that workers are often more productive when given flexibility in how they work, and that pushes towards ‘traditional’ working environments could put people off certain jobs.
He explained: “What many industry experts seem to struggle with is the reality that workers, when not watched over or in the office, will continue to work productively when trusted to do so.
“We are seeing more male bosses who want a return to the office, compared to their female counterparts. When we think of traditional male bosses, there may be a sense of wanting more control over their employees, something that is difficult to achieve with remote working unless tracking software is installed.
“There are very few female CEOs being vocal against this issue, this may be down to how different genders view workplaces and their purpose differently, or working mums seeing the benefits of flexible work options that allow them to be productive in professional and family settings.”
Should home based estate agent jobs be a thing of the past?
Read the orginal article: https://propertyindustryeye.com/working-from-home-is-not-proper-work-says-former-ms-boss/
