Over the last year, an unprecedented experiment in working practices has been performed. Before 2020, working from home was an unthinkable luxury only doled out by the most forward-thinking bosses. The idea of an office worker getting on with their work without the incentive of an office environment was for the birds.
Of course, now we know a great deal better. Not only have millions of workers made the switch to working from home, but the practice has in some respects been enormously successful. It’s likely to persist in one form or another for years to come, with the rise of so-called ‘hybrid working’ allowing businesses to cut down on office space while still gaining the benefits of face-to-face meetings.
Among the major advantages of working from home has been that it has given workers an extra hour every day, with the commute being effectively eliminated. Most workers, however, are using the time, not to do extra work and be more productive, but to expand their leisure time. According to a survey by Rotherham-based flyer specialist instantprint, we’re using the time to exercise, to read, to cook, and to spend extra time sleeping. The latter would suggest that many Brits were chronically sleep-deprived and that this pandemic provided a valuable chance to readjust.
Among the activities we’re indulging in during this extra free time is watching television, with around 24% of those surveyed admitting to having caught up on their favourite TV series and movies while working from home. Interestingly, instantprint has worked out that you could watch every single Marvel Cinematic Universe film back-to-back more than four times in the time that you’ve got back by not having to commute.
In April 2020, Netflix reported that it had seen a significant surge in subscriber numbers, with another sixteen million people creating accounts in the first quarter of the year. While this trend has slowed down a year later, the numbers are still heading in just one direction. The same applies to other streaming services, like Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Disney+.
The ability to have extra hours in the day free for activities like this is one of the major factors persuading workers that working from home is worthwhile. instantprint has worked out that we spend around fifty-nine minutes a day commuting, which means eighteen hours a month, or nine days and two hours every year.
The truth, however, is that the hour-long commute is merely an average, and many UK workers will be freeing up a great deal more time than that. If you found yourself getting home late in the evening throughout 2019, then why would you want to go back? Especially when there’s so much great TV to catch up on!