Employers record rise in productivity thanks to working from home, study says

The research found that employers have experienced a ‘significant’ productivity benefit

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There has been a rise in productivity as a result of employees working from home, according to a new study.

The research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), a professional body for HR and people development, found that employees surveyed have had a “significant” boost in productivity over the past year.

In December 2020 and January 2021, the CIPD surveyed 2,000 employers and carried out in-depth interviews with seven companies. The CIPD also carried out the survey in June 2020 and, when comparing the results of the two surveys, it found that the most recent results show a rise in productivity.

The December/January study showed that 33 per cent of employers were more likely to say that working from home had improved productivity (compared with 28 per cent in June 2020), while 23 per cent of employers were less likely to say that homeworking had decreased productivity (down from 28 per cent in June 2020).

Overall, the findings show that more than two thirds of employers have seen either an increase in productivity as a result of working from home or that it has made no difference to productivity.

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The report examined what companies can learn from more than a year of working from home.

According to the study, two thirds of employers surveyed plan to either introduce or expand the use of “hybrid working” in their organisations.

As well as homeworking, the CIPD is calling on employers to look at other flexible working options, for those whose jobs can’t be done at home. The organisation suggests that organisations and the government should make “the right to request flexible working a day-one right for all employees”.

Claire McCartney, senior policy adviser for resourcing and inclusion at the CIPD, said that the pandemic had demonstrated that “ways of working that previously seemed impossible are actually possible.”

She added: “Organisations should take stock and carefully consider how to make hybrid working a success, rather than rushing people back to their workplace when there are clearly productivity benefits to homeworking.”

McCartney said that for hybrid working to be successful in the long term, employers would need to “implement a strategy that focuses on wellbeing, communication and collaboration to recognise people’s individual preferences”.