Is working from home the answer to train strikes?
Is working from home the answer to train strikes?
With upcoming train strikes scheduled, working from home could be the answer to avoid rail strikes says academic expert.
In recent news, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) has called a strike for members working for 14 train operators on Saturday 13 May
Many commuters have been able to avoid the chaos of train strikes by working from home which has been made more common due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the country in lockdown, this brought upon a new workplace culture of working from home and avoiding public transport.
Hybrid working here to stay
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) nearly half of working adults were working from home at some point during the coronavirus pandemic. A good proportion of people who took up homeworking due to COVID planned to both work from home and in their workplace, according to data from opinions and lifestyle survey (OPN).
After an analysis of the ONS data we found that in February 2022, ‘mostly working from home’ was the most common working pattern. We found that from April 2021 to February 2022 ‘mostly working from home’ increased by 12%. Also, from the same dates, the percentage of people who opted to return to their usual working place decreased by 3%.
Also, we found that in April 2023, 15% of people reported that they now work from home. Albeit a slight increase from 2022, it shows Hybrid working is becoming increasingly common and is here to stay.
The answer to avoid train strikes?
To gain a general opinion on the rail strikes and the effect this has on the publics commute to work, we looked at more ONS data. We analysed how people have responded to the train strikes by looking at ‘Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: travel to work and rail disruptions’ (ONS).
After analysing the data, we found that when asked how commuters would get to work if they could not take the train, 70% said they could work from home.
A problem for the effectiveness of strikes
Back in June 2022, many commuters avoided the disruption of train services by working from home, and according to our data analysis we predict that with the upcoming strikes to come this is how the public will respond.
Gemma Dale, lecturer in the Business school at Liverpool John Moores University, has said that office workers being able to work from home is a problem for the effectiveness of strikes. Being able to not travel and work from home will put less pressure on the Government to resolve this issue.
“At the moment, around 28% of people in the UK are working in a hybrid way. Although this will include a range of different working patterns, there will inevitably be an impact on some degree on all forms of transport, including train usage. Current thinking suggests that the amount of hybrid work will settle at a similar level, so we can expect similar patterns to continue” she said.
The best option to avoid train strikes?
“It is certainly a good option for those individuals who would otherwise have needed to find other ways to get to work. It also results in less disruption for those businesses who might otherwise have had to deal with people taking time off or being late for work. Working from home does has many benefits and this is potentially just one of them” she added.
Ms Dale continued by explaining that although data has shown that working from home is deemed an effective way of dealing with the chaos of the strikes, there are some types of jobs where it is not possible to work from home.
“One key purpose of a strike is to cause disruption or to put pressure on an employer to negotiate or make concessions. Fewer users of the service resulting from working from home does mean that fewer people are disrupted, however, only around half of the UK workforce has the option of working from home”
“So, I think home working isn’t fundamentally damaging to strikes because people rely on the train to get to work, but it is something of a problem.” she said.
Does working from home undermine the strikes?
“It is certainly a way for people to avoid strikes but I wouldn’t say that working from home is going to undermine strike action because it is a huge issue to not have an effective rail service in this country”.
“However, the ability for someone to work from home means that the strikes won’t affect some businesses, and this put less pressure on the Government that perhaps it would have done before the pandemic” concluded Gemma Dale.
How have train strikes affected you this year? Leave a comment below