Purpose

This paper has three aims: Firstly, it puts the pandemic-induced surge in homeworking into context by charting trends in homeworking in the UK since the early 1980s. Secondly, it examines what effect the growth in homeworking during the pandemic has had on employees' self-reported levels of productivity. Thirdly, it assesses whether the spike in homeworking is a flash in the pan or a permanent feature of the post-pandemic world.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses cross-sectional and longitudinal data taken from three nationally representative surveys of workers: (1) the Labour Force Survey (LFS), an official government survey carried out between 1981 and 2019; (2) a special module of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), also an official government survey, which has been run every week since the pandemic began in March 2020; and (3) the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study, an online survey of the same people interviewed on six occasions during 2020.

Findings

The recent surge in homeworking in the UK during the pandemic has been dramatic. Before 2020, it had taken almost 40 years for homeworking to grow by three percentage points, but its prevalence grew eight-fold virtually overnight as people were instructed to work at home if they can because of the pandemic. Despite theories and predictions to the contrary, employees reported that their productivity was not adversely affected. Seven out of ten employees said that they were able to get as much done while working at home in June 2020 as they were able to do six months earlier. By September 2020, this proportion had risen to 85%. However, around one in six homeworkers reported that their productivity had fallen.

Research limitations/implications

While there are solid theoretical reasons for the paper's findings, these data do not allow us to test all of the mechanisms involved. In addition, our outcome measure relies on employees' self-reports of how their hourly productivity changed when working at home and is not based on a direct measure of changes to output per hour. However, surveys of employers also suggest that, on average, productivity has not been reduced by the pandemic-induced surge in homeworking.

Social implications

This paper argues that a higher level of homeworking is here to stay. Nine out of ten employees who worked at home during the pandemic said that they would like to continue working at home when they did not have to. Furthermore, those keenest to continue working at home were the most productive, hence providing a business case for a sustained increase in the prevalence of homeworking after the pandemic has passed. Nevertheless, the experience of homeworking varies with those with higher domestic commitments reporting significantly lower levels of productivity.

Originality/value

There is an urgent need to investigate what effect enforced, as opposed to voluntary, homeworking has had on employee productivity. In addition, in order to decide whether continued homeworking should be encouraged or discouraged, policymakers and employers need to know what effect continuing with these arrangements is likely to have on employee productivity. This paper answers these questions using robust survey data collected in the UK throughout 2020, complemented by evidence taken from a variety of employer surveys.

中文翻译：

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昙花一现还是永久性改变？大流行期间在家工作的增长及其对英国员工生产力的影响

目的

本文有三个目标：首先，它通过绘制自 1980 年代初以来英国家庭工作的趋势，将大流行引起的家庭工作激增置于背景中。其次，它研究了大流行期间在家工作的增长对员工自我报告的生产力水平的影响。第三，它评估了家庭作业的激增是昙花一现还是大流行后世界的永久特征。

设计/方法/方法

本文使用了来自三项具有全国代表性的工人调查的横断面和纵向数据：(1) 劳动力调查 (LFS)，这是一项在 1981 年至 2019 年之间进行的官方政府调查；(2) 意见和生活方式调查 (OPN) 的一个特殊模块，也是一项官方政府调查，自 2020 年 3 月大流行开始以来每周进行一次；(3) 了解社会 Covid-19 研究，这是一项针对 2020 年六次采访的同一个人的在线调查。

发现

在大流行期间，英国最近在家工作的激增是戏剧性的。在 2020 年之前，在家办公用了将近 40 年的时间才增长了 3 个百分点，但由于大流行，人们被要求尽可能在家工作，因此其流行率几乎在一夜之间增长了八倍。尽管有相反的理论和预测，但员工报告说他们的生产力没有受到不利影响。十分之七的员工表示，他们在 2020 年 6 月在家工作时能够完成与六个月前一样多的工作。到 2020 年 9 月，这一比例已上升至 85%。然而，大约六分之一的家庭工作者报告说他们的生产力下降了。

研究限制/影响

虽然该论文的发现有可靠的理论原因，但这些数据不允许我们测试所有涉及的机制。此外，我们的结果衡量标准依赖于员工对在家工作时每小时生产力如何变化的自我报告，而不是基于每小时产出变化的直接衡量标准。然而，对雇主的调查也表明，平均而言，大流行引起的在家工作激增并没有降低生产力。

社会影响

本文认为，更高水平的家庭作业将继续存在。在大流行期间在家工作的员工中，十分之九表示他们希望在不需要的时候继续在家工作。此外，那些最热衷于继续在家工作的人生产力最高，因此为大流行过去后在家工作的流行率持续增加提供了一个商业案例。然而，在家工作的经历因家庭工作承诺较高而报告的生产力水平显着降低的人而异。

原创性/价值

迫切需要调查强制在家工作而不是自愿在家工作对员工生产力的影响。此外，为了决定应该鼓励还是不鼓励继续在家工作，政策制定者和雇主需要知道继续这些安排可能对员工生产力产生什么影响。本文使用 2020 年在英国收集的可靠调查数据回答了这些问题，并辅以从各种雇主调查中获取的证据。