- Planning to work from the beach or abroad this summer? Email matthew.lodge@mailonline.co.uk
Millions of Brits are planning to ‘work from the beach’ this summer as they take advantage of policies that allow them to do their work outside the office.
More than six million are thought to be planning to use the flexibility to do their work while on holiday, with some using it as an opportunity to spend more time abroad than they otherwise would have.
However, people who grab the opportunity to travel abroad while doing their job could find themselves in hot water with their colleagues who still work in an office.
The study found that one in five employees are frustrated when they find out that some of their co-workers are logging in to virtual meetings from the beach or by the pool.
Meanwhile, almost a quarter of employees expressed their concern that those who are abroad are not as productive as workers who are still in the office.
The research, commissioned by price comparison website MoneySuperMarket, also found that a quarter of office workers said their colleagues abroad had missed deadlines due to time zone differences.
The rise of telecommuting policies has soared during the Covid pandemic as lockdown and self-isolation policies have forced employers to allow people to do their work from home.
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Since then, many firms have kept them in place for fear that staff would choose to leave if they were forced back into the office, and now a third of the UK workforce is employed by companies that allow them to work from home.
The study’s work-from-anywhere policy made employees more likely to stay with their employer, while a third said they thought it increased productivity, compared to a quarter of employees who said it caused a drop in productivity.
The head of a marketing company said that she does not only work from home, but encourages her employees to work abroad for at least one month a year.
Natasha Hatherall Shawe, whose firm TishTash has offices in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Britain, told The Times she values giving her staff “the freedom to work from anywhere”.
She told the publication, “If you don’t trust them to be productive regardless of location, you shouldn’t hire them.
“Businesses must also adapt to evolving work habits. I have found that our Gen Z team members especially value the flexibility of working abroad, work-life balance and the ability to travel.”
Despite the apparent popularity of telecommuting, many employers have been reluctant to embrace it, fearing it could lead to poor communication and a lack of teamwork.
A spokesman for MONY Group, which owns MoneySuperMarket, said that despite these concerns, it also offers employees the option to work from abroad if they wish.
Lisa Townsend, director of people, said: “We allow our team to work from another location once or twice a year.
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“We know that some people use the time to experience new cultures or visit loved ones, while for others it allows them to better balance work and home life.”
However, some companies have decided to push back against the apparent move towards telecommuting policies.
Last year Nationwide Building Society scrapped working from anywhere and ordered staff to return to the office two days a week.
Its new chief executive, Debbie Crosbies, said she wants staff to work 40 per cent of their full-time shifts from the office, a departure from her predecessor’s policy, which was put in place because of Covid.
In a pre-Christmas employee magazine, the company said: “The requirement to work on Nationwide’s premises has always been a contractual obligation.
“The company will monitor office access data to understand the use of space and identify non-compliance with the minimum requirement.
“However, the company has given us assurances that such data will only be used to inform discussions and not as an absolute measure of compliance.”