A survey by tech recruiter Corvus Recruitment shows that 88% of NI tech staff may be working from home, and 61% expect home working to continue post-lockdown in some manner.
The coronavirus lockdown has forced industry to experiment with something that people have been requesting for years: Remote work. Many firms that previously insisted office-based roles couldn't be made fully remote (often even as an accessibility adjustment) have been forced to adapt to a remote work environment or furlough workers temporarily until the lockdown ends.
The NI tech sector has been more remote-friendly than other sectors, and a new survey by tech recruiter Corvus Recruitment shows that tech firms here seem to have adapted well to the lockdown. A total of 155 people from across the NI tech community answered the survey, with some interesting results.
Only 7% of those surveyed had been furloughed and 1% made redundant as a result of the lockdown, and 88% of participants are now actively working from home. Of those surveyed, 65% say they noticed no difference in their workload after moving from the office to working from home and 27% said their workload has actually increased. Only 24% expected their work habits to go back to normal after the lockdown, with a surprising 61% expecting their employers to introduce further home working options in the future.
The NI Tech scene is taking a long term view of the lockdown, with 53% expecting it to last until June, 29% until August, and 9% expecting it could last over 4 months. Despite the long-term disruption, around 63% said they feel that they have job security until thye lockdown is over.
Ian Weatherup from Corvus Recruitment commented on the results: "After the initial upheaval of moving to work from home it seems largely business as usual with participants expressing that they are supported by their employers – which is very encouraging to see. [...] Whilst the pandemic has created a landscape of anxiety and uncertainty for all industries, forward thinking companies continue to build their tech talent pipelines as it can take months to recreate them if efforts are completely shutdown."
Source: Written based on press release, Survey Results
