The coronavirus lockdowns have brought many elements of change to our lifestyles. It has particularly interesting monitoring which of these changes have stayed over the past two years. Most of the changes were spurred by terror, fear and necessity but naturally, changes spurred by fear rather than choice aren’t likely to stay. While our introvertism could have only lasted so long, the lockdowns, rather than set definite changes, spurred and sparked evolution and progress in how we work and socialise. 

The major element of this spurring evolution is the near death of the 9 to 5.  The marketing industry, for example, embraced working from home, and only a quarter expect to go back to their office full-time or most of the time in the future. Instead, over half (56%) of all the people surveyed – and two-thirds of creatives – expect to work mostly from home.

This change is forcing employers to let go of any extreme senses of control and instead trust and encourage creative flow. The old days of micro-management and presenteeism have gone. Instead, marketers embraced their new flexibility and the opportunity to spend more time with their families. In return they were more efficient and more productive. Only 16% said they’d found it difficult to work effectively from home.

These statistical findings stem from a new white paper published by The Drum and Adobe. The research is based on a focus group and a quantitative survey of over 100 marketing professionals and creatives carried out for The Drum and Adobe by James Law Research Associates.

Other findings were that three-quarters (74%) said their company’s creative output hadn’t suffered as a result of the changes, but only just over a third (37%) felt the same about the quality of the entire industry’s creative work. 

A disadvantage with home working however was that nearly everyone missed the informal conversations made possible by working in an office, and the inspiration and collaboration that happens as a result. More than half of respondents (54%) said that working from home had made collaboration more difficult, compared to 44% who said it hadn’t.

Employer’s technological support was also regarded as primordial with 86% agreeing that their company had successfully used technology to assist with workshops, discussions and collaboration activity.