It is not often that there is a brilliant opportunity to do a sociological study that encompasses most of the world for an extended period of time, but the COVID-19 pandemic, as terrible as it was, provided the ideal groundwork for a very particular study, and that is the impact of remote work from home in society. The findings are not really surprising for those who have paid attention to the changes in society in the last five odd years, but it is still reassuring to read that the results are as good as we expected.
While remote work was a thing prior to the pandemic, it was not widely done or recognized as a legitimate way to work, with most people just using their home office as a way to work past their time in the office or as a couple of days a week temporary space. It was not taken seriously and those who were fully remote were often looked at as weird people who had no one to socialize with. But that all changed when we were forcibly confined to our homes and most of us had to adapt to the new conditions.
While there have been some studies done post pandemic about the impact of remote work, the one we are referencing today comes from the University of South Australia and has the unique privilege of having stared before the pandemic, which gives a very interesting contrast point between the before times and the aftermath of the virus. They have been tracking employees that work remote over the years to see the impact of how having some flexibility in where we work transforms our lives, mental health, and even productivity.
The advantages of working form home
The first thing remote workers notice when transitioning to a home setup is the lack of commute. Unless you live a five minute walk away from your office (and that also has drawbacks like not feeling able to disconnect over the weekends when you pass the building), just getting to your place of employment increases feelings of stress and fatigue and reduces your mental health. And that is in Australia, where the average person spends over three hours a week commuting to and from work, in countries where the average is higher these negative feelings are exponentially increased.
Eliminating your commute gives you, on average, 30 extra minutes of nightly sleep, which is a lot in a society that does not get enough of it. Plus, it increases time spent with families, and allows you to actually be able to relax before work as there are no external factors that drain you before entering the office. Many have even found that his gives them extra chances to improve their work-life balance and healthy habits.
If you do not waste time commuting, you are more likely to spend time with your family, exercise more and even improve your lifestyle by cooking more and cooking healthier and nutritious meals. Plus, eating them in a more relaxed fashion and not in front of your work laptop while you still try to make sense of a spreadsheet.
There is always the problem of boundary blurring, as the line between work and home time can get a bit more tenuous, but if you have a dedicated space that you can shut off, these lines are not as likely to be crossed and most people get really good at drawing boundaries with their time.
Another concern has been the lack of social interaction and connection with colleagues and the effects it could have on productivity, but the study has proven that productivity often improves in a work from home setting and that if a team needs to have strong bonds to perform their work there are creative ways to maintain the connection.
The main driver for a healthy work from home setup is good management, as traditional oversight techniques are not effective in this setting, but flexibility both in location and schedule have been shown to improve job satisfaction and increase job focus dramatically.