COVID-19: is manufacturing prepared for home working

A recent study conducted by Leesman, reveals that the UK manufacturing and industrial engineering industry is not prepared for working from home. Surveying over 700,000 employees worldwide, 52,240 of those were from the manufacturing and industrial engineering sector. The survey highlighted that 53% of those within the industry have no home working experience. As the Coronavirus maintains its pandemic status by the World Health Organisation, key players around the world are advising their employees to work from home to attempt to curb the outbreak and protect their workforce. With the UK currently advised to work from home if they can and to definitely stay at home if you are sick, Leesman stresses that with large scale remote working the manufacturing and industrial engineering sectors must prepare itself for a reduction in productivity and innovation. Across the industry, those that do work from home, 90% typically do so for just one day a week or less, with 0.5% working from home more than four days a week, and 35% of sporadic home workers lacking a dedicated room to work from.