Is it better to work from home?
Dear Editor,
Unfortunately the world’s economies are moving into or are in recession. A horrid word I know, but every decade or so it appears like an unwanted house guest.
Will a recession bring people back into the office? After two years of working from home, if you had that privilege/opportunity, many of us will be invited or perhaps forced to return to the office.
A Pew Research Center survey(2020) found that 64 per cent of respondents polled had been working from home due to office closures due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. By January 2022 61 per cent were doing it because they wanted to. Employers allowed and even encouraged working from home, while studying their employee’s progress and output.
Now we have found that we live in a job-seekers marketplace, with companies offering higher wages and better perks to attract and keep potential employees. The “Great Resignation” of 2020-2021 has become the “Great Labour Slackening”.
Many in the market believe employees will return to the office space, fearing the possibility of being laid off by employers requiring a sense of control and management — particulary those who believe in-office workers are more productive. The same survey found that 14 per cent of those who have returned to the office feared loosing work opportunities while at home.
The Canadian National Society of High School Scholars found that 63 per cent of their membership wanted to go back to the office, while 23 per cent considered working from home.
A recession places most businesses in a particularly difficult situation that does not bode well for their employees. Recessions traditionally bring with it cost-cutting avenues, repealing of benefit packages, staff layoffs, and terminations.
Working from home also grants employers added benefits. Employees that split their work time between the office and home can save an employer US$11,000 annually, while a full-time employee working from home would save them more. Negotiations between employer and employees working from home have and will carry on, meanwhile, a person’s annual wage/salary will decline.
The privilege of working at home has a cost, that of lower wages. Working from home can save an individual as much as US$4,000-5,000 annually.
Businesses and employees have to consider what’s best for themselves. The cost of hiring and retraining employees is very high, especially in this labour void we work in today.
A possible work-from-home strategy may be on its way, encouraged by governments, environmentalists, and sociologists. The possible benefits, such as less stress, no need to travel to work, health and safety issues, and improved communication systems will certainly increase the likelihood that home-based work is a future trend.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca