UiO har n? ?pnet for at flere ansatte kan komme tilbake til kontorene sine. Den store lesesalen i Eilert Sundts hus har blitt ?pnet for et begrenset antall studenter. Det er fantastisk hyggelig ? se b?de ansatte og studenter p? campus igjen etter mer enn ni uker med stengte bygninger og kun et f?tall personer tilstede.
Mens UiOs bygninger har v?rt stengt, har nesten alle ansatte hatt hjemmekontor. Mange, spesielt vitenskapelig ansatte, utf?rer fra tid til annen arbeid hjemmefra og har innredet en arbeidsplass hjemme som fungerer godt. Men da regjeringen stengte universitets bygninger i mars, ble vi alle p?lagt ? ha hjemmekontor og hadde derfor i realiteten ikke noe valg.
Også ansatte som aldri tidligere har hatt hjemmekontor og som derfor ikke hadde en god arbeidsplass å komme til, måtte jobbe hjemmefra.
Dessuten strakk hjemmekontorperioden seg over mange uker. Ogs? dette m? vi regne med har preget den enkeltes arbeidssituasjon.
Rapport fra den enkelte om hvordan det har v?rt
Hvordan har folk opplevd perioden med hjemmekontor? Har de hatt det utstyret de har trengt for ? kunne utf?re arbeidet sitt hjemmefra? Hvordan har kontakten med kolleger v?rt? Og kontakten med n?rmeste leder? Fakultetsledelsen hadde behov for ? vite mer om disse og andre sp?rsm?l knyttet til den nye og uvante arbeidssituasjon. Svarene p? en nettbasert unders?kelse blant fakultetets ansatte gir mye og interessant informasjon om arbeidssituasjonen p? hjemmekontoret. Unders?kelsen ble gjennomf?rt i perioden 13.-25.mai, og til sammen 328 personer har svart (antall ?rsverk p? fakultetet var 582 per 1.mars).
I tillegg til ? krysse av p? forh?ndsdefinerte alternativer, var det plass til ? skrive inn egne kommentarer. Sv?rt mange benyttet anledningen til ? skrive litt om utfordringer og gleder ved hjemmearbeidssituasjonen. Ikke veldig overraskende gir ogs? kommentarene grunn til ? tro at hjemmekontor kombinert med hjemmev?rende barn i barnehage- eller skolealder er mye mer krevende og problematisk enn hjemmekontor uten barn. Svarene vil v?re preget av om de er gitt f?r eller etter gjen?pningen av barnehager og skoler.
Sammensatte svar – bra for noen, d?rligere for andre
Nesten to av tre (64%) av de som svarte p? unders?kelsen sa det fungerte sv?rt godt eller godt for dem ? jobbe p? hjemmekontor. Samtidig oppga rundt 40 prosent at det har v?rt mindre effektivt ? jobbe fra hjemmekontoret enn p? den vanlige arbeidsplassen. En av fem gir imidlertid uttrykk for det stikk motsatte, nemlig at det har v?rt mer effektivt ? arbeide hjemmefra enn fra den vanlige arbeidsplassen. To av tre oppgir at de har hatt det utstyret de trengte for ? kunne utf?re arbeidet sitt hjemmefra. De som har manglet utstyr, har s?rlig savnet PC-skjerm og en tilpasset stol.
Fra kommentarene kan vi se at ansatte som vanligvis arbeider i laboratorier, ikke har hatt tilgang til det utstyret de trenger for ? kunne gj?re jobben sin hjemmefra.
Nesten halvparten oppgir at de har hatt fysiske plager eller ubehag som kan skyldes hjemmekontorsituasjonen.
Vi vet ikke om slike plager og ubehag skyldes mangel p? tilrettelegging (f.eks. med stor skjerm eller tilpasset stol), eller om det skyldes andre forhold, f.eks. at mer enn én person hadde hjemmekontor i samme rom. Verdt ? merke seg ellers er at omtrent 70 prosent sier at de ?nsker mer kontakt med kolleger enn de hadde da unders?kelsen ble gjennomf?rt. Ogs? fra kommentarfeltene ser vi at mange ansatte har savnet sine gode kolleger.
?nsker ? se flere etter hvert
Det er godt ? se at s?pass mange gir uttrykk for at det har fungert bra for dem ? ha hjemmekontor og at mange har hatt det utstyret de trenger for ? utf?re arbeidet hjemmefra. Det hadde v?rt b?de uventet og trist dersom f? hadde savnet sine gode kolleger. Samtidig er det grunn til ? ta b?de det opplevde effektivitetstapet og de fysiske plagene og ubehaget p? alvor.
Det er fremdeles begrensninger p? kollektivtrafikken som gj?r det vanskelig for mange ? returnere til Blindern. Vi h?per likevel at enda flere etter hvert kommer tilbake til kontorene og arbeidsplassene her.
På litt lengre sikt er det en klar målsetting at alle som ikke har særskilte grunner til å arbeide hjemmefra, kommer på jobb.
Dette er viktig av hensyn til m?let om ? skape gode og levende fagmilj?er.
Editorial: Two out of three respondents believe that working from a home office has been a good option
Two out of three have coped well with working at home, but 40 percent have found it to be less efficient. There is reason to take this seriously, writes Anne Julie Semb, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, commenting on the results of the Faculty's online survey on working from a home office.
The University of Oslo has now opened up for more employees to return to work in their usual offices. The large reading room in the Eilert Sundt Building has been opened up for a limited number of students. It is really wonderful to see both staff and students on campus again after more than nine weeks of closed buildings and only a few people on the premises.
While UiO's buildings have been closed, almost all employees have been working from their home office. Many, especially academic staff, occasionally work from home and have set up a workplace at home that functions well. However, when the government closed the university buildings in March, we were all required to have a home office and therefore in reality had no choice.
Also, employees who have never previously had a home office and who therefore did not have a good workplace to go to, had to work from home. Moreover, the home office period stretched over many weeks.
We must also expect that this has affected each and everyone’s work situation.
Reports from each one on their own experience
How have people experienced this period of working from their home office? Have they had the equipment they needed to do their work from home? How has contact with their colleagues been? And contact with their immediate manager? The faculty management needed to know more about these and other issues related to the new and unfamiliar work situation. The responses to an online survey among faculty staff provide a great deal of interesting information about the working situation in the home office. The survey was conducted between 13th and 25th of May, and a total of 328 people have responded (the number of full-time equivalents at the Faculty was 582 as of 1st of March).
In addition to ticking off predefined options, there was space to write their own comments. Many took the opportunity to write something about the challenges and pleasures of working from home. Not very surprisingly, the comments also give reason to believe that working from a home office combined with caring for children of kindergarten or school age is much more demanding and problematic than having a home office without children. The responses will vary depending on whether they are given before or after the reopening of kindergartens and schools.
Complex responses – good for some, worse for others
Almost two out of three (64%) of those who responded to the survey said it worked very well or well for them to work from their home office.
At the same time, around 40 percent reported that working from their home office has been less efficient than working at their usual workplace.
However, one out of five indicate the opposite, namely that working from home has been more efficient than working at their usual workplace. Two out of three state that they have had the equipment they needed to do their work from home. Those who have lacked equipment have particularly missed having a PC monitor and a suitable chair.
From the comments we can see that employees who usually work in laboratories have not had access to the equipment they need to be able to do their job from home.
Almost half report having had physical ailments or discomfort that may be caused by the home office situation.
We do not know if such ailments and discomfort are due to a lack of adaptation (e.g. with a large monitor or suitable chair), or if it is due to other circumstances, e.g. that more than one person had a home office in the same room. Otherwise it is worth noting that about 70 percent say they would like more contact with colleagues than they had when the survey was conducted. We also see from the comments that many employees have missed their good colleagues.
Would like to see more people eventually
It is good to see that so many people express the view that it has worked well having a home office and that many of them have had the equipment they needed to carry out their work from home. It would have been both unexpected and sad if only a few had missed their good colleagues. At the same time, there is reason to take seriously both the perceived loss of efficiency and the physical ailments and discomfort.
There are still restrictions on public transport that make it difficult for many to return to Blindern. However, we hope that even more people will gradually return to their offices and workplaces here.
In the longer term, it is a clear objective that anyone who does not have a special reason to work from home works at their usual place of work.
This is important out of consideration to the objective of creating good and active academic environments.