I’ve talked a bit about my working arrangements on the blog before with some interesting research from Seareach who found that over 50% of workers were not able to work from home. I am really lucky that in my line of work, I can work remotely. I currently work three days in the office and one day from home. This allows me the flexibility to be around for my boys and to take them to and from school twice a week.

Seareach has recently released a follow-up study that has found that 75% of workers would like the chance to work from home or change their hours in the run-up to Christmas.

Christmas is such a manic time of year, we all have so much to prep and organise before we can finally take some time off to spend with our families. The run-up to it all can be a really stressful time, so I am not at all surprised by the facts from this study.

Flexible working over the Christmas period would mean not having to battle the daily commute, which recently for me has been a nightmare. There are daily issues on our train line resulting in delayed trains, signal failures being the main culprit and that’s not even factoring in the weather which also causes more disruption. It means an hour’s commute can easily double and by the time you do arrive at work, you’ve already started the day on the back foot.

Working from home means being able to start my day smoothly without the worry of these train delays. It also means I’m not up at the crack of dawn and can take advantage of having a little longer in bed in the mornings.

I’m also able to be around to answer the door to the many parcels that turn up over the festive period and to see the boys Winter Assemblies at school too.

Another benefit is being able to see some daylight during the day. When I have to work in the office, I generally leave for work when its dark and return home when its dark too which can be a little depressing.

Being able to work from home in the run-up to Christmas without a doubt means I am more present for my family which at this time of year is the most important thing of all.

*Collaborative post

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