As life slowly gets back to some normality we start our monthly series of monthly #WFH news roundup. There has been so much written about working from home since the Covid 19 pandemic changed working life and we found the need to weed out the fluff and bring to you the key news every month. So the top news from April 2021 then…
Google Rejigs Remote Working – early on in the month Google announced that they are changing their work-from-home policy. As with many other companies it seems they are slowing working out plans on their future arrangements. Google are basically saying that they will continue their current work from home arrangements until 1 September and preparing for a ‘broad reopening’ in Sept 2021. They look like they’ll be adopting some type of hybrid working (split between home and office).
Bloomberg Reports 5% Uplift in WFH Productivity – the WFH boom will lift productivity in the U.S. economy by 5%, mostly due to savings in commuting time, a study says. This is in line with what has been mentioned in the Benefits of WFH for Employers and supports the FlexJobs’ survey reporting 51% being more productive when working remotely.
HSBC Scraps Executive Floor of its London Canary Wharf Headquarters – the company announced that top executives have been kicked out of their offices on the 42nd-floor and will hot desk on an open-plan floor two levels below. Another case of companies downsizing their office space.
Facebook Tells Staff They Can Continue to WFH – for whatever reason, tech companies get the most media attention on what their plans are for employees. Last May, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg predicted 50% of the company’s employees could be working remotely within the next five to ten years.
Talk of Which Jobs Are Heading Back to the Office and Which Can Stay Home – it seems like the Tech companies are very much embracing WFH and allowing employees choice of full remote working. On one other end of the spectrum are the Finance and Law sectors, whose workers have been less likely to WFH all along despite a high potential for their work to be done remotely.
Working From Home is a Failed Experiment – a bit of a stark title but this article explores a recent study that found two-thirds of workers ‘craving’ more in-person time with their colleagues. This point of view is shared by a similar demographic: older, set in their ways, long time in business, family-owned businesses.
As you can see, all of the above are from major online news channels indicating the massive popularity of the WFH subject. More and more companies are coming out with different sorts of announcements like LinkedIn publicising their plan to give all employees a week off in order to prevent burnout. So look out for future roundups to stay on top of #WFH News.
