Organisational support for the work-life balance of home-based workers

Abstract

First paragraph: The shift to working from home following the lockdown necessitated by COVID19 has been sudden and significant. Many of the tasks and activities that have traditionally been positioned as ‘impossible’ to conduct online were rapidly and effectively enabled via zoom calls, cloud computing or facilitated by other forms of technology. What has been referred to by some commentators as a ‘mass experiment’ in working from home (Gratton & Stern, 2020) has resuscitated, with renewed intensity, debates about working from home and work-life balance, including ‘family-friendly’ flexibility, greater productivity and well-being (including extensive media coverage of studies such as Bloom et al., 2015). At the time of writing, UK employees have been advised to continue to work from home wherever possible for the foreseeable future and debates about home-based working continue apace. What has often been absent from such debates are the practical steps employers can do to support their employees, including in terms of the provision of equipment and IT support.