80% of workers have found working from home to affect their mental health: Is it time to get back to the office?

Is working from home affecting our wellbeing?

Transcript

00:00Well, before the pandemic, staff went into the office an average of 3.8 days a week.

00:0652% of business leaders surveyed believe that hybrid working is the most supportive environment

00:11for employee productivity, but 98% of employers have implemented a measure like work socials

00:16or on-site gym access to encourage employees to come back into the office.

00:21So Lauren, we're aware there's a growing mental health crisis in the UK at the minute.

00:26Is it possible that the rise in working from home could be linked to this?

00:31An increasingly complicated picture is emerging when it comes to the wellbeing of home workers.

00:36Some workers have reported that dealing with a high volume of video calls has made them

00:39even feel self-conscious that seeing their own face on screen has left them wishing they

00:43could return to those in-person meetings instead.

00:4681% of under 35s feared loneliness from long-term home working, and studies have shown heightened

00:52levels of stress and anxiety among young workers since the shift to remote work.

00:57The NHS recommends that people working from home set and stick to a routine, take scheduled

01:03breaks and make a dedicated workspace.

01:06They also recommend to stay connected to real people due to the isolating nature of being

01:10at home so regularly.

01:14Some large companies have been using increasingly sophisticated tools to monitor employees since

01:18remote work expanded during the COVID pandemic.

01:21Such services can track keystrokes and eye movements, take screenshots and even log which

01:26websites are visited.

01:28But on the other hand, technology has also evolved to evade the surveillance, including

01:31so-called mouse jigglers, which are aimed at making computers appear to be in active

01:35use, which are widely available.

01:37According to Amazon, thousands have been sold in the last month alone.

01:42Hybrid workers, those working partly in the office and partly at home, were on average

01:457% less likely to be promoted.

01:48Workers were 9% less likely to give a pay rise to staff working entirely from home than

01:52those who were completely office-based, and 7% less likely to give one to hybrid workers.