When the pandemic began, it was also the start of a significant change in how people work. In 2020, the Office for National Statistics confirmed 25. 9% of the UK population were working from home. This was an increase from 2019, when just 12.4% of the country did the same.
And although the world has opened up since then, not everyone has gone back to the office full-time, with the most recent government data showing that 85% of adults working from home would prefer a hybrid approach of both home and office working in the future. It seems some employers have taken note, too, with online job adverts including terms related to homeworking increasing at a faster rate than total adverts.
With so many workers now plying their trades from their homes, there’s a whole new set of challenges for employees to conquer.
If you’re someone who’d like advice about balancing how they work with life at home, we’ve got you covered. This handy guide will walk you through what you need to do to ensure you’re making the most of working outside the office.
While seen as something of a luxury in the past, the ability to manage your professional life around your personal one is becoming more of a factor in how a lot of people are choosing to apply for jobs. A recent study from Randstad found that as many as 65% of people saw a good work-life balance as the most important factor when looking for work.
This marked the first time in seven years that a worker’s salary had not been the driving influence in their job hunt. Interestingly, the study – which drew data from 9,000 UK full-time workers – found that the need for balance rose with age. 70% of those in the 55-64yo bracket saw this as the most important feature of a job, compared to 59% of those aged 18-24.
A huge factor in this recent shift was undoubtedly the need for so many of us to stay at and work from home in 2020. The entire working world was totally flipped on its head. This has impacted some sectors more than others. Government statistics show that on average across all industries in April of 2021, 31% of workers were still remote-first.
This naturally varied between sectors, depending on the type of work that was required. The report found:
The shift in stances was mirrored by job ads themselves, with the same report finding that the latest figures (May 14 2021) showed there were 306 positions posted with homeworking mentioned, compared to just 114 without.
The ability to work from anywhere is one of the key components in achieving a good work-life balance. It’s for that reason that a separate Government report released in January of 2022 found 25% of home workers lived in rural areas, while 16% lived in urban areas. The highest percentage of these (34% of all homeworkers) could be found in rural hamlets.
With remote work offering the chance to ply your trade from practically anywhere, it’s perhaps no surprise that we saw an exodus of people out of busy areas and into the relative comfort of the countryside, with plenty of stories about people wanting more space and less noise. In a survey of Londoners, 46% of those who wanted to move wanted to leave the city.
Perhaps most tellingly of all, a report from The Gazette found two out of every three workers who wanted to leave their jobs in 2020 cited their decision was based on a desire to have a better work-life balance.
If you’re new to working outside of a traditional environment, it might feel like a bit of a culture shock. Luckily, there are steps you can take to ensure your transition is as seamless as possible. Follow this advice to make the swap easier:
The most important factor to consider is how much privacy you’ll get. Even if space is a premium, it’s probably not a good idea to set yourself up in a busy communal area like the living room.
Whether it’s certain privacy requirements which need to be met, a ban on loud noise during peak hours of the day, or even the need to book out a room of the house for an important meeting, it’s vital your cohabitants know what is and isn’t allowed.
If you want an additional level of protection, you could even invest in your own home-based router. You can configure this WifFi yourself, allowing you to monitor which devices can and can’t connect to your network. This will improve speeds and reduce the chances of falling victim to any malicious attacks.
And while in the past things like the intrusion of children and pets may have been frowned upon, there’s far greater understanding and acceptance in this new era. Of course, there are still limits to that. Cuddling a bunny on screen for an hour is not quite as acceptable as needing to deal with a little one who’s had an accident.
If you’re unsure where the line is, think about what you would find rude or unacceptable in a colleague, compared to unavoidable household occurrences which are beyond their control.
With all the comforts of your home life surrounding you, it’s only natural to become distracted. This can have a massive impact on the amount of work you find yourself doing. If you’re worried about your day-to-day focus, think about employing some of these tricks to stay on task:
While you might be given flexible hours by your place of work, it could still make sense for you to have a strict start and finish time. It has the potential to focus your mind and ensure you give your full attention to a dedicated period of the day.
Having this wider picture of what you’re dedicating time towards makes it easier for both yourself and your employer to understand what steps you need to take to efficiently manage your time.
If you don’t have time for in-person training, look for web-based classes or webinars. These offer all the same benefits, but can be done from the privacy of your own home (usually at a time which suits you).
With two very different worlds merged into one place, it might be tough to know how to best manage your personal and professional lives. There are a number of steps you can take to make sure you’re finding the perfect middle ground between the two.
Without clearly regimented times (as you might have had when working in an office), it might be hard to know how to regulate your free time. The trick is to take a break when it makes sense rather than at a specific hour of the day. This allows your creativity to flow without being capped at a random part of the day.
Try to build this into your day to make it as regular as possible. Make a point of getting out and having a mental refresher as often as you can.
This will help you stay on track, and give you a real motive to strive for a certain parameter by the end of your designated time period. If you want, these can even be personal goals, rather than professional ones.
While we have every confidence you’re going to excel at managing yourself at home, it would be naive to assume you won’t face any hurdles. There are a number of stumbling blocks when transitioning to a different working environment. The trick to managing these challenges is to spot them early.
Here are some red flags for anyone working at home:
It’s vitally important you take the time to pause for self-care, or else you’ll face the dreaded burnout which has become increasingly common in recent years. Government statistics show that the rate of work-related stress has been increasing, with 822,000 workers experiencing it according to the most recent data.
If you’re really worried about deadlines, then book Mondays or Fridays off to give yourself a long weekend. That way you still get four concentrated, successive days of work under your belt.
By shifting attention towards your work you’ll quickly find yourself becoming fatigued, while the initial source of the stress itself won’t be addressed at all. This is the worst of both worlds. If you find yourself not wanting to log off at the end of a working day, it might be time to tackle the other stress in your life.
With so much time being spent at home, it’s only natural you might be concerned how the use of your house as a second office is going to impact your mortgage. Luckily, the chances of it being affected are relatively slim. Let’s take a closer look at why that is, what factors could actually cause your situation to change, and what you need to do to keep your lender happy.
If you are working a regular office job from the comfort of your home, it’s very unlikely it will impact your mortgage. This is a factor for business owners to consider, rather than regular employees. An issue may arise if you are carrying out construction work on your house in order to facilitate your job.
In summary, your mortgage should be relatively unaltered so long as you have permission from your lender and the work you’re doing doesn’t affect the structure of your home. If you do feel like you’ll need to swap to a semi-commercial mortgage, make sure to speak to a professional mortgage broker for expert advice first.
Just like most things in life, sometimes it pays off to have the support of others. Luckily, there are a number of ways you can get the help you need when working from home.
The fact they’re removed from your professional world might also give them a perspective which you might not have considered before. Having this fresh set of eyes to assess problems is an underrated asset.
Now things are nearly back to normal, more and more offices are ready for use again. If you feel comfortable returning – either on a part-time or full-time basis – then it’s important you remember to take the appropriate measures first. It’s not just your needs that need to be taken into account, but also those of the wider team.
Finding the right balance between working and living your regular life at home is tough for anyone. Make sure to keep this guide in mind if you find yourself shifting to a remote-first role now or in the future.