More Free Time But What Are We Doing With It?
The COVID-19 pandemic was extremely tough for many people all over the world and Britain was no exception. The country rapidly ground to a halt leaving businesses struggling as well as the British public’s mental health.
From an employee perspective, a lot changed. Many people were made redundant and over 11 million jobs were furloughed which left a lot of free time on people’s hands. What they chose to do with that time was completely up to them as they tried to keep their sanity throughout the two years of hell.
For some people, working was still very much a way of life, they just had to do it from home. With no more commute or distractions from office gossip, these people too had a lot of free time on their hands allowing them to utilise their time better to do the things that they love to do. Working from home practices continue to this day and so, it begs the question of what people are doing with all this spare time?
If you want to find out more, be sure to read on.
The result of working from home
Now that people are working from home more, quality business card producers, instantprint surveyed 1200 UK employees to learn about their habits. The results were nothing short of remarkable. When these workers remained at home, they found that they had an extra hour in their day to do things they love to do.
With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that more than a third of 2000 adults surveyed tried to gain a new hobby since the beginning of the pandemic.
What were the main hobbies taken up?
Using the data collected by instantprint, it appeared that many hobbies were taken up but the following were the most popular.
- Reading 26%
- Watching series/films 24%
- Listening to Music 22%
- Napping 21%
- Housework 21%
- Cooking 20%
- Spending time with pets 20%
- Spending time with family/friends
- The gym/at home workouts 18%
- Gardening 19%
What now?
Now that restrictions have been lifted and the lockdowns seem like a thing of the past, the UK has embraced one of the few benefits of the pandemic, working from home.
Many companies now have a hybrid working system in which employees can decide when they will visit the office or work from home. This means that if there is something that they need to do or want to do on their lunch break or before work e.g. the gym, they can. This is promoting a healthy work/life balance which is only going to enhance employee motivation.
