Getting Flexible With Work
Thinking back to the Work From Home era of 2020-21 is a complicated cocktail of emotions. On one hand it was boring, relaxing and at times an interesting change of pace. All of this was coloured of course by a stormcloud of existential dread over our own mortality and job security with a dash of social distancing so not even takeaways or company could ease the mood.
Fortunately those days are behind us now and we’ve discovered the joys of hybrid working. No longer is work a binary of going to the office and recuperating at home. Now according to a survey commissioned by Logitech about 69% of office workers across NZ are considered hybrid workers, able to work from home every few days and coming into the office as required to touch base. If congestion charges really do come into effect I can see this number maintaining or even growing.
“The modern workplace has been reimagined beyond a fixed desk in a corporate cubicle. Kiwis now spend on average two days a week working from home, at coworking spaces, cafés and out-and-about,” says Logitech New Zealand General Manager Fabien Degueldre.
“Hybrid working is not to be confused with straight ‘working from home’, which overall is on the decline globally. Hybrid is on the up, where working across multiple spaces serves different purposes at different times.”
The great part about working from home is the dream of being able to change your environment across the day, as the stock images have always taught us working from home should include sitting in an uncomfortable position on a nice shaggy rug with an artfully placed coffee. What these stock images fail to tell us though is that those girls have insane back pain at the end of the day and also, unrealistically, aren’t wearing milo stained onesies.
According to Fabian a third of workers prefer to switch up working locations. But if you’re like me, you just don’t have the kit to uproot and wander around the house like a nomad.
Unfortunately in practicality a massive 83 per cent of Kiwis aren’t satisfied with their set up when working away from their desk and find it harder to concentrate, less comfortable and less productive.
To rectify this we’ve collected our picks for more flexible working above.
