How much of the shift to homeworking will stick?

What does the image show?

The largest group of workers in the sample are those who do not work from home. Whilst 76% did not work from home before the pandemic, this remained at 44% in November 2020. However, 38% have been working from home 100% of their working week in the autumn, up from just 4% pre-pandemic. The 20% who worked from home some of the time before the pandemic were very likely to switch to 100% home working with 73% making that switch.

Why is this important?

The commute is a major source of congestion, overcrowding on public transport and poor air quality. It also contributes around 20% of the climate change emissions from cars. Reducing the commute for those who can remain working therefore has a range of potential benefits to all travellers. It is though important to take account of all of the journeys that people make and the costs of domestic energy use in looking at the carbon benefits.