While some welcome an extra day or two of working from home as a break from the daily grind or as a way to save money, many workers will find their routines disrupted by this week’s rail strikes.
“Working from home is just not an option for me – and it hasn’t been throughout the pandemic,” says Wazhma Mansouri, who has worked as a nurse in central London for 16 years.
Strikes saw just one in five services across England, Scotland and Wales on Tuesday, the same is expected for Thursday and Friday, with disruptions expected for the rest of the week as well.
Wazhma, who works in palliative care, said she was concerned about commuting to work ahead of a 12.5-hour shift Tuesday night.
She has taken on extra shifts for colleagues who may not be able to travel at all. While the hospital uses taxis for staff, congestion and cancellations have caused problems.
“We are already facing a backlog in the NHS due to the pandemic and this could delay things further… I find it quite galling that this could impact emergency surgeries or patient care.”
While she understands that railway workers are on strike over job cuts, wages and working conditions, she would like action to be taken “in a sensible way”.
“We nurses work 24/7 low-paying, stressful jobs and have to deal with life and death situations…I only wish there were better services for frontline workers instead of everything stopping.”
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Although the pandemic has caused more people to work from home, in many cases spending some days at home and some days in the office, most workers, like Wazhma, commute to work every day.
According to official information, 46% of workers in the UK travel solely for work, compared to a quarter who spend some time on site and some at home, or 14% who work full-time from home.
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at HR trade body Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says more flexible working practices have helped employees work from home at short notice.
“This also relieves the public transport system and reduces services for those who have to commute to work,” he says.
“However, for workers who need to be at their jobs, there needs to be flexibility and understanding of disruption to journeys.”
Ruth Sadler’s work as a project manager at a naval base in Portsmouth has also been disrupted by strikes, but she says her colleagues have been understanding so far.
She commutes daily with regional trains from Southampton to Portsmouth. She doesn’t have a car, so she relies entirely on trains for her travel.
“I can’t work remotely today [Tuesday] and thought I could get an alternative train and bus replacement service but I got stopped on the way as there were no trains available at all,” she told the BBC.
On her way home from the train station, she said she couldn’t work because many of her tasks had to be done face-to-face.
She added: “I fully support and understand that the strike action is necessary, but it is obviously an inconvenience.
“Hopefully I can get my work laptop for later in the week.”
Accounting teacher John Whittaker is working from home this week but says while it’s “possible, it’s not that productive”.
He joined Canterbury College in his new capacity in November 2020, returning from China at the start of the pandemic.
“For that reason, most of the resources I originally developed were geared towards working from home.”
However, today he relies on public transport to get to work as he never learned to drive. While working from home is possible, he says that when he’s teaching his classes, it’s far from ideal.
“There is no doubt that it will be more difficult to teach this week because I have not had enough time to prepare properly.
“And of course there are always some people who will put the camera down and walk away and just listen to the lesson. You can clearly see the difference in the quality of work they are returning while we work remotely.”
Despite this, he told BBC News that he supports this round of industrial action.
“The railroad companies raise the fares for commuters like me every year, and I can’t say I’ve ever noticed an improvement in service… Unions exist for a reason, and occasionally they have to remind employers.”
Tom Cheesewright, a consultant and author who focuses on future business trends, suggests the strikes could also be a timely reminder for bosses of the importance of embedding new ways of working.
He estimates around 40% of UK workers now have the ability to work from home based on levels seen at the peak of the pandemic.
Go forward? Tom suggests that while great strides have been made during the pandemic, much more needs to be done in terms of training and support to ensure that working from home is a viable option for more people.
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