We have seen a major shift in remote working over the last two years with many professionals working remotely.

At the end of the Coronavirus job retention scheme in September 2021, 16% of businesses reported having had employees on furlough. 26% of people were furloughed at some point throughout during the pandemic.

 

The shape of delivery services

Over the past few years, delivery services have become faster, they extend further and they reach more people; then Covid 19 waltzed in and set the delivery industry on fire.

UK terms such as ‘delivery’, ‘home delivery’, ‘veg boxes’ and ‘food delivery’ saw huge monthly search volume increases from February 2020 to March 2020:

  • ‘Food delivery’ went from 50,000 monthly searches to 151,000
  • ‘Home delivery’ followed a similar pattern from 1,300 to 25,000
  • ‘Veg boxes’ shot up from 3,400 monthly searches to 32,000
  • ‘Delivery’ went from 34,000 monthly searches to 116,000

 

Working from home post-pandemic

A hybrid model is the most realistic approach for a lot of businesses as we move into an adjusted working environment.

The main reason businesses are planning to utilise home working is for improved staff wellbeing with 80% of businesses agreeing.

This is followed by just under 50% citing reduced overheads and increased productivity. Other reasons include; ability to recruit from a larger geographical pool, reduced sickness levels and ability to better match jobs to skills.

A hybrid approach to working is becoming more and more common with time spent in both the office and working from home. Education, Professional Scientific & Technical activities and finally, Information & Communication are the leading industries utilising hybrid working according to ONS.

Information & Communication is the only industry whereby more people are still working from home than from the office or using hybrid working.

Unsurprisingly, Accommodation & Food services have the highest number of employees working from a designated workplace.

This has evidently made a difference to how we order items, how we receive them and ultimately whether or not we’re missing them.

 

Home more than ever and missing deliveries

Despite people working from home now more than ever in the UK, they are still missing home deliveries.

Gophr conducted consumer research of 3,000 people who are currently working from home to find out how many times deliveries have been missed since January 2021, and the reasons why. 

The initial research found that 20% of those surveyed missed deliveries because they were on a video call. Gophr were intrigued by this and did further research to find out how people reacted to a delivery whilst on a video call at home, besides flat out ignoring it…

  • 66% of UK adults missed deliveries at least once a month
  • 41% of UK adults missed a delivery 1-2 times per month
  • 6% of those working from home missed 5-6 deliveries per month
  • The Welsh residents appear to be the biggest culprits with 95% missing deliveries at least once a month
  • This was followed closely by 88% of Londoners
  • Unsurprisingly, 43% missed their delivery because they weren’t at home – 49% of which were women

 

Deliveries when working from home

Working from home means that you are bound to be disrupted by your doorbell throughout the day.

Couriers aren’t privy to your work calendar, but how do adults in the UK react to deliveries when they are in a work video call?

Gophr discovered that 34% of people turn the camera off and answer the front door without being missed.

29% of people gave an excuse and snuck to the front door to accept their package. A very savvy 20% left instructions for the delivery driver ahead of the call.

And almost a quarter of 35 to 44 year olds just left the call they were on without giving a reason at all.

 

Working from home has meant a complete shift in how we run our lives in that we can save money, increase productivity, gain a healthier work-life balance and increase overall satisfaction.

You can schedule home maintenance, put a wash on and catch those deliveries you miss in your normal 9-5 in an office…or not as it so happens!

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Consumer research was carried out through online and mobiling polling of 3,000 UK adults by Gophr between 14.09.2021 – 04.11.2021.