Are Dundee workers ready to return to the office?

Working from home was once a luxury enjoyed by few.

Covid changed that.

In 2019, before the pandemic, just 4.8% UK employees worked from home.

These days, around 14% of people work from home full time, while 26% of us enjoy a hybrid approach.

And with more and more flexible coworking spaces popping up across the city to accommodate hybrid workers, the trend shows no signs of slowing down.

But there’s no doubt, despite the popularity of working from home, there is still a place for the office.

We spoke to a full-time remote worker and office lover in Dundee to find out why it works for them.

‘I really like the separation between home and work’

Elaine Fleming, the founding director of PR and digital marketing agency Ginger, is enthusiastic in her love for the office.

Ginger is part of the ALTAR Group agency, which employs around 30 people and operates out of a converted church on Brook Street.

Although the company operates a hybrid working policy, Elaine prefers to commute from Arbroath to the office five days a week.

The mum-of-two said: “I really like the separation between home and work.

“I’ve got a 20-25 minute drive to work which is perfect because I like to listen to the radio in the morning.

“This gives me a chance to listen to the news, get in the right headspace, think about what my day look like, and just kind of organise my thoughts.

“Then when I get to work I am ready. I’m like, ‘Ok. Let’s go. Let’s crack on with the day’.

“And it’s really nice because when you come into the office it feels like you’re ready.

“You are surrounded by other people who are all creative, working together and I’m really happy to see my colleagues.”

Working in the office improves efficiency

For Elaine, working from the office also improves efficiency.

She said: “We are really collaborative so we’ll often have chats.

“It is easy because if I need to speak to someone and get their thoughts, rather than message them and say ‘Can you give me an update?’ or ‘When can we get a call in?’

“It is so much more efficient to just pop over to their desk.”

Elaine believes that working from the office instead of at home is better for her wellbeing, too.

She said: “Previously, I worked from home full-time – my business was based from my home office.

“And although it worked really well, I missed that social interaction.

“I think it is really good for you to be around other people, especially people from different backgrounds.

“You are exposed to what their experiences and you don’t get stuck in an echo chamber.”

But as a parent, Elaine is grateful that she can work from home when need be.

She said: “I’ve got two girls who are at primary school so occasionally if they have something on at the school I can just work from home to make sure I am there to go to their school performance or whatever it is.

“It’s great to have that flexibility and take advantage of that.”

‘Working from home makes life easier’

But the office is not for everyone.

John Comrie, a game developer at Edinburgh-based gaming company Build a Rocket Boy, prefers to work from his home in Dundee five days a week.

The 29-year-old, who worked in the office full-time before the pandemic, says that the switch to remote working has improved his work-life balance.

He said: “It is nice to just finish work and just immediately walk 10 metres away to the living room and then I am home.

“It is just a great work-life balance. It just makes life easier.

“You have more time in general and can fit more fun in.

“I don’t feel like my whole life should be work.”

He explained: “I am an early riser, I like to get up at 6am every morning and go to the gym before I come back, shower and start work.

“If I was to commute for one and a half hours to Edinburgh I wouldn’t have any morning anymore – I would just be getting up, getting ready and going to work.

“Coming back, I wouldn’t be home until at least 7pm or 7.30pm, and quite often in games you have to work overtime.

“I am someone who likes to have dinner bang on 5pm so I would be absolutely starving by 7pm.”

Working from home ‘super convenient’ with pets

John, who has an extensive home office set-up, including three monitors and two PCS, lives with his girlfriend and their pet cat and dog.

This is another benefit to working from home.

He said: “I am always here for the dog if he needs to go out or whatever.

“My girlfriend will go into the office sometimes so it’s nice that I am here and she doesn’t need to come home at lunch time to let him out.

“So that is super convenient.”

He added: “Generally I am just a homey kind of person so it’s great to have the opportunity to be at home and work.”

John also believes that the rise of remote working has been a “blessing in disguise” for many companies, allowing them to better retain talent.

“I know a lot of people who say that if they couldn’t work remotely then they would need to find another job because they just couldn’t commute,” he said.

“That’s me. If I couldn’t work remotely from Dundee then I would need to look for another job.

“Our company recognise that they want us to be happy and they want us to work where is best for us.”

Are there any drawbacks to working from home?

But John admits there are a few drawbacks to working remotely full-time, including a lack of “disconnect” between home and work.

He said: “I have my office at home and I associate my office with work.

“But I also like to play video games in my office so it is sometimes hard not to think about work while I am at home.”

He added that he also misses out on some social events with his colleagues.

“One of the good things about the office is the social life.

“I am definitely a bit of a hermit.”