Most of us still aren't properly equipped to work from home

A shockingly large proportion of employees across the UK still don't have all the right equipment they need to work from home effectively.

Almost a year on from the first lockdown and stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, many workers are lacking vital hardware such as home printers and portable monitors needed to do their jobs properly, new research from Currys PC World and Canon has found.

This is despite nearly all businesses being forced to switch to a remote working environment, with employees needing to stay away from offices and connect to work networks from home.

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WFH woes

The study, which surveyed 2,000 British office workers, found over a third (38%) missed having a printer the most when remote working. Nearly a quarter (24%) said they missed desks, 20% said they missed computer monitors, and 9% said they missed desk phones.

Elsewhere, 16% said they missed having proper meeting room technology, suggesting the huge growth in video conferencing calls has not been appreciated by everyone - with nearly a fifth (19%) saying that they had a poor work set-up at home.

Nearly half (46%) of office workers said they felt they were able to collaborate better with others in the workplace, a third (34%) feel they communicate better and a further third (33%) feel meetings work better in a formal work setting.

Overall, the study found that 81% of UK office workers worked from home in 2020, and the overwhelming majority (72%) would like to work remotely at least part-time in the future. Perhaps surprisingly, older workers were found to be the most likely to want to work from home full-time than any other age group, with younger employees keen to split their time between home and office environments.

IT & Telecoms professionals were found to be the most likely of any profession to want to keep working remotely on a permanent basis, with office-based healthcare employees are the least likely to want this.

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