More than seven million people (41%) have bought new office equipment during lockdown, forking out £233 on average to make their home suitable for work, according to new research from Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service.
More than 18 million people in the UK have been working from home during the coronavirus lockdown.
Over half a million people have invested more than £500 on office equipment, with 2.3 million employees buying new headphones to make work calls, 1.7 million purchasing a new desk, and 1.6 million investing in a new laptop.
Most popular home office purchases:
| Item | Numbers of home-workers buying the item | Most popular where |
| Headphones | 2.2 million | Norwich |
| Stationery | 1.9 million | Newcastle |
| Laptop | 1.7 million | Norwich |
| Desk | 1.7 million | Edinburgh, London, Newcastle |
| Chair | 1.5 million | Leeds |
| Printer | 1.3 million | Bristol, London |
| Phone | 1.1 million | Newcastle |
Source: Uswitch.com
Uswitch.com is offering home-workers advice on what they should consider investing in to get the most out of their home office setup.
Nick Baker, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, comments:
“As lockdown starts to lift, millions of employees plan to keep doing their job from home, with staff spending £233 on average in turning their home into a productive place of work.
“Employees are realising that having a stable broadband connection isn’t the only thing they need to work from home, with millions buying new headphones, laptops and desks to create their own mini-offices.
“When you’re purchasing office equipment, don’t be tempted to buy the first thing you spot online. Take time to shop around and compare what’s available out there, making sure that any deals including the cost of delivery, especially for bulky items like desks.”
