7 May 2020

Survey finds most people enjoy working from home

11:03 am on 7 May 2020

Many New Zealanders have been working at home during lockdown levels 3 and 4 - and it seems a lot of us have liked it.

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Photo: Startup Stock Photos/Pexels

Auckland firm Frog Recruitment has surveyed 1300 workers and managers, about their experiences working at home, and how this experience might change the way we do things in the future.

They found more than 70 percent aren't too happy with the idea of returning to the office.

Jane Kennelly for Frog Recruitment, tells Morning Report that people were quite stressed setting up their home offices at first, but are now comfortable at home.

"These new habits are being formed and, in fact, a high number of respondents are really enjoying being at home and in their home environment.

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"It's been a circuit breaker for sure as far as being open and it being acceptable to have flexible work hours."

Kennelly is among the many who are working from home and said she also enjoys it.

"My commute is now 33 seconds, so I'm very happy to be working from home.

"I must confess, and it did come through in the survey, that there is that lovely benefit of being in a shared work environment where you bump into people and you can chat about ideas. That type of interaction isn't happening, and I do miss that. But, otherwise, it's been a very highly productive time."

Kennelly said that, once upon a time, people believed that working from home meant less productivity. The lockdown has certainly proved otherwise.

That productivity also present a problem; people are never leaving their work spaces.

"On the one hand, that's fantastic, but on the other hand people really feel quite chained to their desk."

She said that the lockdown has provided a tremendous experiment in working from home, and she hopes it brings about permanent changes to our work lives.

Kennelly said workplaces do need to consider financially helping employees setting up their workspaces. She heard of one person who bought their BBQ inside to use as a desk.

"The whole notion of working from a laptop isn't great."

She said businesses will save money by having a reduced number of people in their offices and should put that toward making sure home offices are well set up.

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