Member Article

Odyssey Systems says remote working is here to stay as poll reveals only seven per cent of staff want to return to the office full-time

Odyssey Systems says the second lockdown in England adds further weight to a trend towards the permanent adoption of remote working practices.

Mike Odysseas, founder, and managing director of the Stockton-based telecommunications firm said many businesses and organisations want to avoid the uncertainty of future coronavirus restrictions by adopting new working arrangements.

This, he said, is evidenced by a survey that reveals more than 90 percent of British employees don’t wish a full-time return to the office.

He said: “The second lockdown introduced last week throughout England only serves to remind companies that they need to remain reactive and agile – and that means staff being able to work remotely from home.

“People recognise the benefits of dividing their working time between office and home, so they receive the best of both worlds – maintaining human interaction to stimulate creativity whilst adopting a more flexible lifestyle to improve work life balance.

“Introducing so called hybrid working arrangements not only makes sound business sense but is extremely popular with employees – which means there is likely to be improved productivity.”

The YouGov poll found that only seven percent of British workers wanted to return to the office full-time, once coronavirus restrictions are lifted – of those, men were keener to return (49 percent) than women (44 percent).

Only half of those surveyed would choose to work from home every day (18 percent) or most days (32 percent) with the remainder opting to work from home some of the time.

Of the 4,373 adults interviewed, 72 percent said ‘comfort’ was their key reason for wishing to work from home whilst 50 percent said they felt more productive.

Meanwhile, half said they spent too much time commuting while a quarter admitted that they enjoyed spending time away from work colleagues.

Mike Odysseas said that the longer the pandemic continues, the more likely there will be a sea-change in the widespread and permanent adoption of remote working – with many businesses yet to return to the office following the March lockdown.

While there remain some issues in terms of internet connectivity, these can easily be addressed by simply switching to an alternative provider. Other bugbears can be tackled by improving the quality of wireless equipment and ensuring critical devices are hard-wired, with priority over other devices.

Businesses should also consider moving telephony and IT services to a fully hosted infrastructure, ensuring staff experience a similarly high level of service working from home as they would from the office. In addition, companies are advised to adopt a multi-layered approach to IT security.

Added Mike: “The spring lockdown has already proved that the technology is robust, reliable, and user-friendly – with the ability to reduce costs, cut commuting and create a more productive working day, whilst offering staff greater flexibility and an improved work-life balance. I believe home working is here to stay.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by News Gathering .