Homeworking is here to stay and everyone should benefit

Recruitment

The last 16 months have seen an astonishing shift in the working patterns of millions of Brits. At the start of 2020, a mere 6% of UK workers worked from home. Now it’s the norm for so many of us, regardless of what sector or industry we’re in.
Joint research from the universities of Cardiff and Southampton has found the majority of us (88%) are keen to continue working at home in some capacity, even after the pandemic is over. Indeed, homeworking offers a host of benefits, but for it to keep benefiting us all long-term, our digital infrastructure needs to be up to the task.
This is why CityFibre is investing up to £4 billion nationwide by bringing the fastest and most reliable network technology – full fibre – within reach of up to eight million homes by 2025.
It’s not hard to see why so many of us want to stick with homeworking after the pandemic. Homeworking can often feature fewer distractions and it has been shown to reduce work-related stress and boost efficiency, with 70% of home-workers reporting that they’ve been just as, if not more, productive as they were when office-based. For many, it has also unlocked more flexibility to take breaks when needed, leaving us with some much-needed breathing space and balance in our hectic lives.
It’s also left many with more money in their pocket.
From an employers’ perspective, offering homeworking solutions can make recruitment easier while also opening up the job market to those who need more flexibility, including parents, carers or people with disabilities. So, if businesses had a pool of candidates before, now they have an ocean. Skills shortages are already costing UK businesses nearly £7 billion a year in recruitment fees alone, so adopting a ‘work anywhere’ model could provide UK businesses with a significant competitive advantage.
Although there are many positives about the shift to homeworking, there are still challenges – the most significant being that many of us are still held hostage by poor connectivity. According to Ofcom, nearly 200,000 households across the UK currently receive less than 10Mbps, making even basic services like email a daily frustration.
As you might expect, having poor connectivity can significantly impact efficiency and productivity, creating unnecessary stress and frustration for both workers and employers. What’s worse, it tends to affect entire communities, leaving digital black spots in locations across the UK.
Currently, most UK homes still connect to the internet via networks built for telephones. Full fibre, on the other hand, is designed specifically for the digital age. These networks use 100% fibre optic technology to carry data at light speed all the way from the home to the point of connection – a pristine open highway with no bumps in sight.