People who love the comforts of working from home could be skating on thin ice, by Joanna Blythman

Another few weeks with gentle starts to the day, no commuting, no stressful sprint to get children out to daycare on your way to work. More time to walk the new puppy that hates being left alone. No “What shall I wear today?” dilemmas.

As long as you pass muster from the neck up, here are a few more weeks to luxuriate in the warm, low maintenance bath of the home office.

But how long can this interlude last?

Westminster has rescinded its “work from home if you can” guidance. UK Ministers “expect and recommend a gradual return over the summer” and earlier this week Chancellor Rishi Sunak chivvied businesses to get their employees off Zoom video calls and back to a bricks-and-mortar workplace.

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Mr Sunak raised a troubling thought that nags away at those who are currently doing their jobs remotely, the worry that not being physically present in the workplace harms your career progression.

This certainly used to be the case. Pre-Covid, a friend of mine was made redundant by his US employer. It closed down its satellite offices in Paris and London and concentrated its activities on its home base. This was no coincidence. Virtual, out-on-a-limb workers are vulnerable. It’s almost as if management needs to see you in the flesh to believe that you are performing effectively.

Britain used to be infamous in Europe for its culture of presentee-ism. While the French, Italians, and Spaniards took leisurely lunches, and long holidays, and Germans ended their working days early, the UK put in the hours, even though there was nothing to show for it in terms of enhanced productivity.

Lockdowns subverted this presentee culture. Lots of people have taken advantage of this new-found liberty to work from home to make radical life changes, selling up in overpriced cities and moving to places where property is cheap, all on the understanding that home working would be the norm going forward.

But are those who restructured their lives in the post-Covid landscape skating on thin ice?

There’s nothing today’s fickle, globalised companies like better than streamlining their operations and casualising their workforce. The way they see it, if everyone is working virtually, there’s no measurable, real life human capital gains to be had from employing people in Scotland over people in India or Ireland.

And when workers come together in one workplace they have the ability to organise. But strung-out geographically, and deprived of real life contact, the collective bargaining power of employees is diminished.

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When the anchor of one central workplace is raised, why not shake up other terms and conditions while you’re at it? What’s to stop an employer snipping away at the entitlements that previously went with 9-5 working in this brave new virtual workplace? It might start with reduced travel allowances then creep on to cover cuts in maternity and holiday conditions.

Now, freelancers like me have a particular perspective on this discussion. We are, of necessity, a hard-working, non-slacking breed because if we aren’t productive, we simply don’t get paid. We live with job insecurity and benefit from no advantageous conditions. Forget sick pay, or annual leave. We kissed goodbye to that for the liberty of being our own bosses.

And the value of that freedom shouldn’t be underestimated. As a freelance you don’t have to sit through endless talking shop meetings. You don’t have to put up with annoying employers because if people don’t like having you work for them, there’s absolutely nothing contractual to stop them ditching you.

So while “working from home” for the employed can on occasion be interpreted as the equivalent of putting a “Gone fishing” sign on your desk, going through the motions is not an option for true freelancers unless you want to pull the plug on your income.

Freelancers have always worked from home, in a fairly disciplined way that is fostered by a sense of insecurity. We are at arm’s length from the employer’s Mother Ship, and out of sight can easily mean out of mind.

As one seasoned freelancer warned me early on in my career, freelancers should always attend the Christmas Party, if invited, because, “It’s harder for them to sack you if they’ve seen you.”

Emollient Mr Sunak stated the risk more diplomatically, of course. “The mentors I found when I first started my job I still talk to, and they have been helpful to me even after we have gone in different ways. I doubt I would have had those strong relationships if I was doing my internship or my first bit of my career over Teams and Zoom.” Mr Sunak said.

“That’s why I think for young people in particular being able to physically be in an office is valuable.”

Well, if you are simply marking time at work, expecting no more career advancement, just putting in the days and months until you can finally afford to jack it in, you may wish to postpone a physical return to the workplace indefinitely.

For the unambitious and workplace-weary, home working has been a God send, particularly for those older people who live in comfortable surroundings. Many of them have actively resisted the easing of Covid restrictions because it suits them to stay at home.

Not so the younger cohort. They miss the social opportunities of a shared workplace, and they have had their fill of a home office that is a laptop propped up on a pillow.

Younger people can also sense that their careers could suffer significantly from a protracted home working interlude.

The fact remains that although we inhabit an increasingly virtual world, face-to-face interaction is still terribly important. We humans feel more committed to each other when we get together.

Working from home forever? Be careful what you wish for.

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