Inverness and Moray Chamber of Commerce CEOs speak about working from home on the fifth anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown

This weekend marks five years since the Covid-19 pandemic upended daily life, bringing lockdowns, remote work, and an unprecedented shift in how businesses operate.

What started as a temporary solution quickly evolved into a long-term debate: should employees stay remote, return to the office, or find a middle ground?

While some employers have embraced the flexibility and productivity that remote work offers, others argue that in-person collaboration is irreplaceable.

We’ve spoken with business leaders to see where they stand on the work-from-home debate in 2025.

Sarah Medcraf, the CEO of the Moray Chamber of Commerce, has spoken about the pros and cons of the working-from-home dynamic.

The 34-year-old said: “I think during the pandemic, we often said, ‘Oh, everybody's in the same boat’. But actually, it wasn't. It was, ‘Everybody's in the same storm, but everybody's boats were different’.

“They say the office is made for the extrovert. Some people were very much itching to get back and itching for the water cooler chat. But obviously, we're very aware that other types of personalities really thrive from being at home and are more productive without the distractions of the office environment.

“From an employer perspective, they are keen for a lot of employees to be back in the office, at least on a part-time basis. A lot of employers are very aware that having real strict rules about them being in full-time can be quite detrimental to their organisation if other employers are allowing flexibility.”

The mum-of-two, who’s been in her CEO position for 10 years, believes the main reason employers want people in the office is for team-building, working together, and learning.

She explained: “When I first began working in an office I learned a lot just by listening to what was going on around the room. You learn quicker in the role as well, because you've got people around you who want to see you doing well.

“Similarly, from a line manager's point of view, if you're watching an office, whether it's two people or 20 people, and you see that somebody's struggling a little bit, you can be like, ‘Oh, so and so, you okay there?’. At home, they maybe would have sat on a problem for longer because their line manager hasn't seen that they're struggling.”

Sarah, who lives in Elgin, only worked from home during lockdown when her office was closed.

Speaking on her experience she said: “I do my job because I am an extrovert, and I want to be around people all day. I also like the detachment - my home is my home, and I have a seven-year-old and a three-year-old, and it's very chaotic. I would rather be somewhere separate when I am working.

“However, I think we need to get away from the clocking in, clocking out, and really focus on the outputs. If the outputs from the employees are there, then that's what we should be focusing on.”

Sarah believes that more flexibility with working from home positions might also help quash the gender pay gap in the area.

She explained: “In Scotland, the gender pay gap is about 12% between male and female, but in Moray, that jumps up to 22%.

“It's a really huge gender pay gap, and we know that a lot of it is down to caring responsibilities in some way, shape, or form.

“Employers are much more open to having conversations about flexible hours now, particularly because they want to keep good people.

“If you've got good, loyal staff who deliver and do their work and are a real great asset to the team, of course you're going to try and find a way to keep them.”

A People Management LinkedIn poll found that 73% of employees said they were more productive when working from home and that the remaining 27% of the 1,590 employees polled say they found they were more productive when working from the office.

However, according to a Microsoft article 85% of leaders say the shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to have confidence that employees are being productive.

Despite data like this Colin Marr, who has been chief executive of the Inverness Chamber of Commerce since 2023, thinks there isn’t enough information about the new work-from-home dynamics.

He said: “The pandemic meant that companies introduced the technology that made work from home possible very quickly.

“Today many companies regularly examine and change their policies around work from home as they try to find a balance between the flexibility that work from home gives employees with the need for workplace cohesion and the ability to learn from colleagues on a daily basis.

“Academic studies are split on whether productivity goes up or down as a result of work from home, but most of them agree that creativity definitely declines as a result of not being able to bounce ideas off colleagues in the office environment. Policies that allow for a sensible balance of the two seem to be the most successful.

“Work-life balance also throws up interesting dilemmas as those staff who feel they are advantaged by seeing more of their life through work at home need to be balanced against those who find their work and life blending to the point where they find it difficult to switch off from work.

“Overall, we need to remember we are still in the very early days of this change, we still have a lack of reliable information about the impacts, we still have a lot to learn and it will almost certainly change further over time”

Nicky Stewart, from Watten in Caithness, has run an online business from home for 10 years.

The 55-year-old owns Knitted Birds, which sells knit kits here: https://www.knittedbirds.com/, and says the pandemic and lockdown helped normalise her type of work.

She said: “It’s become more normalised to work from home and it really suits me.

“I get to set my own routine and run my own business.

“I’ve had a lot of family commitments in the past and if something happened in the afternoon I could nip away from work and pick it up again in the evening.

“Everyday is different, I’m a morning person so I like to get up early and do all my work before the afternoon.

“Part of my job is creative, such as the knitting patterns, but I also still have to run the business like dealing with the sacks of mail and my accounts.”

The mum-of-one says she loves working from home as she finds it hard to focus in an office.

She added: “Working from home isn’t just good for women who need flexibility to care for children or other loved ones but also I think that it's essential for men as well.

“My husband also works from home and is having to take time out of his day to deal with his mother with dementia.

“Without the flexibility of having a job which lets him do that, he would be really stuck.

“It is also really helpful for those who struggle to commute for work.”

What do you think about working from home? Get in touch by emailing newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk.

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