Working from home under Covid-19 lockdown: transitions and tensions
Jane Parry, Zoë Young, Stephan Bevan, Michail Veliziotis, Yehuda Baruch, Mina Beigi, Zofia Bajorek, Emma Salter, Chira Tochia
Abstract
Our focus is on the working from home transition, experience, and outcomes in two industry sectors: Professional, Scientific & Technical (PST) and Public Administration & Defence (PAD), together representing 1 in 7 of all UK jobs, which we examine at individual and organisational levels. These sectors are interesting because PST has a much higher percentage of white-collar, desk based occupations relative to the rest of the UK economy, and PAD has a high proportion of key worker roles in the workforce for whom exclusive working-from-home is not an option. Our case study organisations are two local authorities operating in England and Wales, and two large law firms with offices across the UK. In focusing on these sectors and types of organisation our findings have wider application to all jobs that were formerly office-based, and to organisations managing both mono and hybrid working patterns across a workforce.