ESRC Working From Home and Levelling Up dissemination event

On Friday 14 March David McCollum and colleagues ran an ESRC Working From Home (WFH) and Levelling Up dissemination event in Birmingham. The workshop attracted a diverse audience of 36 national and local policymakers, business people and academics and sought to gather feedback on the main findings as well as tease out interesting questions and avenues for further research. Their rather sobering conclusion was that although Working From Home is now very prevalent, it is mainly the preserve of graduates and those in higher status jobs, and thus won’t be a game changer for geographical inequalities. Key identified priorities for extending the evidence base on this issue include. 

• Data sources: improved statistical data on the geography of WFH. 
• Employer perspectives: a better understanding on employer preferences and practices regarding WFH. 
• Developing new thinking about the theoretical links between WFH and local economic development.