By Guest Contributor instantprint
Despite being hailed as the centre of business in the UK, London was revealed to be the worst UK city for those working from home, according to new research.
Belfast, Birmingham, and Nottingham claimed the UK’s top spots.
- A third (34%) of UK employees have fallen in love with working remotely and have no wish to go back to the office.
- Top distractions for UK workers when working remotely include children (28%), partners (24%) and pets (20%).
- Just 16% of Britons are working from a dedicated home office, with the majority of those surveyed (44%) mostly working from the living room.
With 86% of the nation reportedly undertaking at least part of their job from home due to Covid-19 , online printing specialist, instantprint, has used a combination of desk research and national survey data in order to rank the UK’s best and worst cities for working from home.
instantprint created a points system that took into consideration a variety of factors for each city that are conducive with a smooth working day from home:
- 2020 population (as a gauge of potential noise levels)
- average internet download speed (Mbps)
- 4G signal strength
- average no. of rooms per property
- average overall sq. footage of property (m₂)
- average property price 2020
- average monthly rent 2020
- average cost of living minus rent (per person per month)
The ‘big smoke’ is by far the biggest city in the UK and considered to be central hub of business for Brits, but with 67 points, many other cities score better than London overall. Soaring average monthly rents of £1.6k, high costs of living (£831) and an average overall property size of 65.6m₂ were all contributing factors.
Joining the capital at the bottom end of the scale, Cardiff, Sheffield and Bristol were found to be some of the worst cities in the UK for employees finding themselves working from home.
Worst UK Cities for Working from Home |
Final Rank |
| London | 1 |
| Cardiff | 2 |
| Sheffield | 3 |
| Bristol | 4 |
| Bournemouth | 5 |
| Glasgow | 6 |
| Southampton | 7 |
| Aberdeen | 8 |
| Edinburgh | 9 |
| Leeds | 10 |
On the other hand, Belfast was found to be the best UK city for those working from home. The undisputed champion came out on top of our rankings table with 105 points overall. With an excellent average internet download speed of 64.1mbps, workers in Belfast are unlikely to experience a choppy connection on their next video call.
Making up the top 5 were Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Leicester, and Cambridge.
| Best UK Cities for Working from Home | Final Rank |
| Belfast | 1 |
| Birmingham | 2 |
| Nottingham | 3 |
| Manchester | 4 |
| Leicester | 5 |
| Cambridge | 6 |
| Newcastle | 7 |
| Oxford | 8 |
| Portsmouth | 9 |
| Liverpool | 10 |
With much of the nation still working from home, instantprint also surveyed 2,000 UK employees to learn more about how Brits have adapted to remote working.
Since working away from their usual work environment, just 16% of Britons are making use of a dedicated home office, with the majority of those surveyed (44%) mostly utilising the living room instead.
The data found that the nation’s workforce are split when it comes to their opinion of working from home.
Whilst a third (34%) of UK employees said they enjoy it, but would prefer to go back to the workplace part time, a further third (34%) have fallen in love with working remotely and never want to have to go back to the office.
Almost a quarter of those surveyed (23%) shared they are really enjoying the flexibility of remote working, with 15 per cent bragging they have “perfected the work-life balance” since doing so.
One in ten UK employees (13%) admitted they are more productive when working from home, however, a further one in ten (11%) have found there to be too many distractions.
Children (28%) were found to be the biggest distraction for UK adults working from home. Partners (24%), pets (20%) and chores around the home (20%) were also high on the list.
Despite being named the UK’s best city for working from home, Belfast was found to be one of the least productive cities since working remotely, with 14% claiming to be less productive from home. Other not-so-productive cities include London (15%), Cardiff (12%) and Norwich (12%).
Comparatively, Bristol was found to be home to the most productive UK city, with nearly a third of residents (29%) claiming to be more productive since working from home.
Jon Constantine-Smith, Head of instantprint, commented on the findings:
“Working from home long-term, especially when it’s something we don’t have a choice in, can take some getting used to, and even more so if you’re limited on space and may not have the fastest internet speeds.
“Whilst there are naturally more distractions for us around the home due to that space being representative of our personal lives, it’s important to try and not be so hard on yourself and remember that there were also distractions in your normal working environment, whether that be an office, a studio, or otherwise.
“As such, it’s integral that we create a calm and comfortable working environment, ensuring we can make a clear separation between our work and home lives – even if they may be sharing a space for now.”
ABOUT INSTANTPRINT
Methodology – Survey of 2,000 UK employees. More information found here.
Founded in 2009, instantprint is an online printing company, made up of a friendly bunch of talented individuals with a hunger to help their customers reach their customers in the best way. With print that makes them look amazing. And helps their business to flourish. Making them so much more than a printing company. instantprint are proud to offer sustainable print services, using the greenest possible paper options available, and on top of this, they are FSC certified. The company are also ISO certified, and all of their packaging (even the plastic!) is recyclable. They pride themselves on their partnerships with several waste management companies, which means they recycle 97% of all their waste. instantprint recently announced plans of their 2020 expansion. The printing firm will increase their total footprint by 45% to 145,000 sq. ft paving the way for its continual growth. instantprint was named the national winner of the 2019 Customer and Market Engagement at the European Business Awards. instantprint specialises in 24-hour flyer and leaflets, business cards, posters and stationery. Thanks to a recent 3.25m investment, the printing giant is now able to produce and deliver stapled booklets within two working days.
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