Employers may have to think radically about workplace locations to limit the damage to staff productivity, says Hayley Kirton
Samuel Johnson once said: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”
Unfortunately, Dr Johnson wouldn’t approve of me, as there’s quite a lot about London I’m tired of. I’m tired of the cramped commutes, the pollution, the constant delays on the Tube, the buses that don’t run to timetable, the people who stop to look at every single window display on Oxford Street, the sheer number of cupcake shops, and, most of all, the ever-increasing cost of rent.
But, before you disregard this as another rant from an entitled millennial, you should know that the lack of affordable housing is having a negative impact on the capital’s employers. The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have recently produced a report about the undersupply of housing in London. In their survey of London businesses, they found that 42 per cent of employers felt that increased housing costs were affecting their ability to recruit or retain skilled workers.
You could argue that people should simply move to more affordable areas and commute into work. However, that doesn’t solve the problem either, as the longer an employee spends commuting, the more tired and fed up they’ll feel when they finally arrive at the office. Combine that with the likelihood of journeys being delayed and it’s little wonder that 33 per cent of businesses in the LCCI’s survey blamed lack of affordable housing near to the office for affecting employee productivity and punctuality.
So, instead of asking workers to choose between outrageously expensive rent and a productivity-crushing commute, why not take the work to where the talent is? Some business owners might insist that they want to be in London because that’s where all their potential customers are. However, figures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills show that, while England as a whole has 984 private sector businesses per 10,000 adults, London has 1,266. By contrast, the North East has just 633. Theoretically, that means firms in the North East face half the competition for potential clients than firms based in London.
Or, if moving the workplace out of London isn’t possible, why not ask the employees to stay at home instead? The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics found that 4.2 million in the UK already work from home and, with new laws making it easier for all workers to request flexible working coming in at the end of month, that number could rise further.
Of course, the ideal answer to the issues highlighted by the LCCI’s report would be to create more affordable housing in London. But, since the housing shortage in London is a long-standing problem with no quick-and-easy fix, I’d suggest that businesses are better off trying to find their own alternative solutions.