Advantages of working from home
During the first lockdown,my son was asked to work from home. After a short period of success,he was told that he wouldn’t be asked to return to the office until January at least.
One of the advantages of working from home was that he could effectively work from anywhere.
Several family members were happy to accommodate him, so he decided to move out of his expensive rented flat. When the situation becomes clearer, he can make a decision on where to live, depending on how often he will be expected to put in an appearance at the office.
My sons employer might hope to outgrow their office, so having a substantial part of their workforce operating from home could avoid the need to relocate to larger, and possibly more expensive, offices.
In the USA
In the USA, remote work recruiter Upwork has released research showing that up to 23m Americans are relocating or planning to relocate after being allowed to work from home, just over half of them to areas too far away to commute comfortably.
It means that four times as many people are moving home than would be normal, in what Upwork describes as “the biggest, fastest transformation of the labor market since the World World II mobilization.”
Employers are embracing the advantages of working from home enthusiastically, especially tech companies including Microsoft, Twitter and Reditt.
It is not only that they can reduce office costs but, they believe, it will enable them to recruit new workers from anywhere in the world, without asking them to relocate. They see it as giving them access to a first class workforce.
In England
In England at least one third of the population live in London and the south east. The daily commute has become a miserable experience for many of them, and many workers earning what would be very good money further north are living in cramped bedsits and shared houses. Working from home could allow them a better standard of life, and bring their buying power to other areas of the country.
When the East Coast Mainline was built it became possible for workers to commute 100 miles into London in around an hour, comparable to commuting times on crowded trains from the suburbs of London. The higher travel costs were more than offset by cheaper housing, often in areas with a better quality of life.
It is to be expected that stage one of HS2, linking London to Birmingham, might have a similar effect, and make it easier to commute to London from the West Midlands – the opposite of the declared aim of developing the economies of the north and midlands.
More people working from home could mean a national transport system geared to getting people to and from London might not be needed. Indeed if commerce becomes more and more online, why invest in expensive London office space at all?
