Reform says WFH would stop if they win an election, but is there evidence to show it reduces productivity?
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Nigel Farage has called for an end to working from home culture, saying that any theory that staff are productive in their own space is “nonsense”.
The Reform leader told a rally in Birmingham that companies should follow the lead of Amazon, Boots and JP Morgan in calling all staff to return to offices for most, or all of the week.
He said: “People aren't more productive working at home – it's a load of nonsense. They're more productive being with other fellow human beings and working as part of a team.”
Mr Farage did not offer any evidence or statistics to back up his claim, but he is correct to state that more people are working from home than before the pandemic.
The number of people working from home doubled between late 2019 and early 2022, from 4.7 million to 9.9 million, according to the Office for National Statistics.
But are people really less productive at home?
Is Nigel Farage right to say that staff are always unproductive at home?
Productivity experts and statistics are not dismissive of working from home (WFH) being a productive environment for staff.
A report from King's College University last June found that productivity increased by 10.5 per cent among workers at a multinational company in one case study.
Service quality also improved with shorter calls and hold times, the findings said, while the company studied, Tempo BPO, became more diverse with its intake of female staff.
“The research does not support [Mr Farage’s] blanket claim that working from home is nonsense or that it inherently makes people work less hard,” Dr Cevat Giray Aksoy, an economics lecturer at the university, told LBC .
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Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy added that Mr Farage was “spouting prejudice above fact” by launching into WFH culture.
She cited a People Management study which showed that more than half of respondents feel more productive when working from home. Ms Creasy also pointed to an IMF study, which showed how the space freed up in offices could provide larger benefits to towns and cities.
Labour MP Ms Creasy said: “Multiple studies show being able to work from home boosts productivity, health and family outcomes.
“Don’t let Farage ruin your life or country by claiming otherwise.”
Hybrid work preferred to full time WFH and in office work
Dr Aksoy said that fully remote work has produced more mixed results, although there has been better evidence of it working well in the years since the pandemic with superior WFH arrangements installed.
He said: “Fully remote arrangements are more common in highly routinised, measurable roles (such as data entry, customer service, and call-centre work) where performance is closely tracked and tasks are more standardised.”
“For hybrid work, there is no rigorous evidence showing that it hurts productivity,” he added.
“Existing studies typically find improvements in retention and job satisfaction, with no negative productivity effects (and sometimes positive effects), so hybrid arrangements often work well.”
Monisha Longacre, a productivity coach, writer and public speaker, told LBC that “a hybrid” system is “most productive” with pros and cons to both office and home work.
“WFH can definitely be productive depending on the work that needs to be done,” she said.
“For quiet, deep work that requires focused attention, being at home works really well.
“On the flip side, collaborating, brainstorming etc. is much more effective in person. So a hybrid, flexible work environment is probably the most productive.”
Ms Longacre added that distractions in an on-site work environment are “plentiful,” especially in open floor workspaces.
“Throughout the day, people stop by and ask ‘do you have a minute’ which never is just a minute,” she said.
“For those who are writing, doing research, analysing data, or writing reports, these constant interruptions can negatively impact the quality of their work and the time it takes to complete their work.”
‘Judge the work outcomes, not the work spaces’
Mr Farage has been insistent that staff at Reform-run councils should be made to come in, while, if elected to government, he would look to impose an end to WFH culture entirely.
Despite this, polling consistently shows strong support for hybrid working in both the public and private sectors in the UK, while employees say remote work improves productivity, work-life balance and staff retention.
Dr Aksoy said: “Overall, it does not make sense to make blanket statements about remote work. Firms should be able to choose what works best for them.
“The government’s role is to set the legal framework rather than micromanage firms and workers.”
He added: “In general, performance should be evaluated based on outcomes, not office presence.”
