Over a third of Londoners who have worked from home this year said they have found the experience more stressful than being in the office.
That’s according to a study into the UK population carried out by the life insurance broker, LifeSearch.
The company’s Health Wealth & Happiness index revealed that, on average, three-in-ten (31%) adults said they had found it harder to work from home compared with their usual place of employment. But this figure rose to 37% for Londoners.
The findings coincided with the Government’s announcement that coronavirus restrictions would be extended in England to 19 July to counter a surge from the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus.
‘Loneliness and isolation’
According to LifeSearch, nearly half of Londoners (46%) reported feeling lonely and isolated working from home. Over half (55%) said they felt cut off from colleagues and nearly two-thirds (60%) said they miss team morale and the workplace community.
In addition, more than two-fifths (41%) of the capital’s employees operating remotely said they did not have a suitable place from which to work. About a third (32%) told the LifeSearch study they had struggled to find the peace and quiet they needed to work effectively.
LifeSearch said that, on average, about a third (34%) of Brits had reported that they have worked excess hours since the pandemic started. This figure rose to 41% of Londoners, where one in 10 claimed to have worked at least an extra 10 hours a week.
Emma Walker at LifeSearch, said that the latest extension to coronavirus restrictions would be difficult to hear for many of those who are struggling to work from home: “Hopefully, next month, those who were hoping to return to the office for a bit of ‘normality’ should be able to begin to do so, helping mitigate feelings of loneliness, isolation and being cut off from the workplace.”
