Company HONOR conducted research to mark the launch of a new series of laptops MagicBook, in order to find out how the Russians actually survived self-isolation and what really changed in their lives after. So, among 3 thousand respondents, more than half of the respondents aged 18 to 44 admitted that self-isolation and remote work only improved their lives.: managed to establish relationships with loved ones and forget about the usual gray office everyday life. However, there were also those who really had to suffer a lot. For example, someone had to isolate themselves from their relatives in the toilet in order to work quietly, and someone developed paranoia as a result. In addition, months of teleworking once again demonstrated a significant difference in the distribution of household responsibilities between women and men.
The third one is superfluous: self-isolation, family and personal life
According to 51% of those surveyed, during telecommuting, the line between work and personal life has largely disappeared. This is due to the constant distraction for household chores, children, solving personal issues and the absence of boundaries for the beginning and end of the working day.
Thus, 47% of women note that while working at home they have to look after children at the same time, while men – about 10% of respondents – prefer to devote time to themselves: to play sports, walk and have fun during working hours, while no one controls them.
Many have finally managed to find the very balance between work and personal life: 50% of women, working from home, were engaged in school or household chores, and men spent more time in their leisure time (36%) and studying the news (43%). 18% of men managed to take part in several meetings at the same time. 16% of women and 5% of men took care of themselves during calls and meetings, doing manicure, hair, makeup, masks and more.
Surprisingly, even having the opportunity to be distracted by anything, about 50% of those surveyed preferred to be distracted by social networks. 10% still chose to sleep, but in front of a work computer screen, and men did it much more often than women.
For every second person, remote work has become an opportunity to spend more time with loved ones and appreciate the importance of communicating with family. Only 14% of the respondents were tired of communicating with their relatives because of the constant presence in the same room.
In general, the tendency for women to be distracted by household chores and children, and men at leisure, has continued. At the same time, men were twice as likely to be distracted by sex (14% and 7%, respectively), went shopping during work (6% versus 4% of women), leafed through magazines (5%), made repairs three times more often, and communicated more with friends (27%).
Many men also made contact with children, while women dreamed of solitude and restoration of moral strength.
Overall, only 4% of respondents began to spend less time with their children. Those 60% who began to spend more time with their children did it more often on average by 57.6%.
The vast majority admitted that children interfered with work, but this happened at different intervals. Many distracted kids with cartoons and educational games, 23% mentioned that they included online educational courses on a laptop. 79% of those surveyed said they use a laptop for child development. A third of children before the pandemic had their own laptops, while during the pandemic, 21% of parents decided to give or buy a device to their children, and 20% are planning to buy.
A place of power at a distance
As for the organization of the working space, about half of the respondents either equipped a special place for this, or already had one in advance. On average, 4.5 square meters were used for these purposes. meters.
However, some note that they worked in the kitchen or were forced to move furniture and sacrifice a resting place. 9% even made a complete rearrangement at home, and 6% arranged a study on the balcony. And 4% had to choose the most hopeless option – to lock themselves up and work in the toilet.
The most popular non-standard places to work were the car and the cafe (25% and 23%, respectively), especially among men. 12% of respondents worked on the street and 10% in public transport.
The absolute majority – 68% of the respondents – most often use a laptop in the bedroom, followed by a kitchen – 36% and an office – 31%. Women are more likely to sit at a laptop in the bedroom and in the kitchen, men in the office. At the same time, 2% of men most often use a laptop in the toilet.
Laptop camera as an excuse for paranoia
Behind all the hustle and bustle of remote work, there was anxiety. Thus, according to the survey, 54% of respondents developed paranoia about the camera or microphone not turned off. Most of all, respondents were afraid that they would swear or complain about their superiors during a work conversation. In addition, people feared that they or their spouses would walk by the camera naked or dressed in anything.
Almost half of the users noted that during the negotiations someone got into the camera’s line of sight: most often they were children, a little less often – spouses and pets.
The study showed that many began to suffer from incredible forgetfulness: 40% of those who turned off the camera and left the workplace during remote work, forgot to return to their laptop and finish.
Video calls and conferences forced some to pretend to be ready to work, with women doing so more often than men (54% versus 46%). The most popular way to create this kind of visibility for 68% was to clean only the part of the room that is visible in the frame.
Over time, about 40% of employees stopped preparing for remote calls. At first, they specially tidied themselves up, but gradually relaxed by May 2023.
Shock, denial, bargaining, acceptance
The remote office has brought a lot of convenience and new stress and anxiety into people’s everyday life. Despite all the difficulties of remote control, 60% of women experience stress at the thought of going to the office. In the distance format, they feel more comfortable than men. Those are almost not worried about the prospect of going back to the office: for the most part, they don’t care where to work from (39% answered this), while some, on the contrary, are more comfortable in the office (8%), and 20% of women are worried about the likelihood of a full return workplace. At the same time, 70% of the respondents, both men and women, would no longer want to work in the office 5 days a week, preferring either complete remote work or a hybrid format: 2-3 days at the office, the rest of the time at the laptop at home.
According to the respondents, comfortable working conditions, communication and separation of personal and working time are the main advantages of working in an office. They considered the disadvantages of travel time, early rise and lack of flexible schedule.
The main advantage of remote control is the saving of time spent on work in the usual format. For the period from March 30 to the end of December 2023, people managed to save up to 309 hours in a remote format – this is approximately 1 hour 36 minutes of personal time per day, which is 19%.
43% of respondents would like to continue working in a hybrid format – working 2-3 days from the office, and spending the rest of the time at home using a laptop. Women are equally attracted to both 2 and 3 “office” days a week, and for men 3 days is the most optimal solution. In fact, 70% of those surveyed would no longer want to spend 5 days a week in the office and would choose to either always work remotely or combine office and home.
There are significantly more men among those who would choose a full-fledged exit to the office, and among those who prefer complete remote work there are more women. The main factors in the desire to go to work in an office for men is live communication with the team. Women, in addition to the desire to communicate, also want to get away from the distractions at home and show themselves.
Laptop as a faithful companion and guide to the real world
Before the pandemic, most respondents used a laptop for personal purposes, but now 90% of respondents use a personal laptop for work, with 41% doing it daily. The percentage of the audience using a laptop to watch movies and TV series has decreased by 2 times, and almost 4 times – for the purpose of processing various materials. At the same time, the use of laptops for the development of their business decreased from 14% to 5%.
Among those who take a laptop with them every day when leaving home, there are more people aged 25–34 years (27%).
When choosing a laptop, the most significant criteria for users were processor characteristics – 67%, and RAM – 65%.
Building on the results of our research and analyzing user needs, HONOR offers users the updated HONOR MagicBook laptops with 11th Gen Intel Core processors, which open up new possibilities for work, study and entertainment.
For example, the company took into account the importance of battery capacity, since due to a lack of charge, using a laptop away from an outlet is problematic for 24% of respondents: when buying a new model, they pay attention to the battery capacity. At the same time, MagicBook laptops have 66W fast charging and reverse charging, which allows you to charge your smartphone via the Type-C wire even when turned off.
In addition, men are interested in a video card (37%), a higher resolution (21%) and a screen diagonal (43%), and women – a brand (19%), battery capacity (16%), number of connectors and dimensions (25%) … Women also worry about the eyesight of children who use a laptop for school more often than usual (22%). Taking care of the health of the eyes of users, HONOR has equipped the new MagicBook FullView display with Eye Comfort mode. Especially for users who spend a lot of time in front of the screen, the updated HONOR MagicBook laptops have 50% reduced blue light exposure (TÜV Rheinland Certified for Blue Light Reduction), eliminated screen flicker (TÜV Rheinland Certified for Flicker Reduction) and applied dimming technology – it provides comfort for the eyes, even when working with a laptop for a long time. And thanks to autonomous work up to 10.5 hours, you can safely take a light and compact device and go to work in the park. Its screen is covered with an anti-reflective protective film and provides a bright, realistic image even in direct sunlight – just what you need on a sunny summer day.
When choosing a laptop, 55% of respondents study user reviews online or consult with relatives and colleagues (54%). At the same time, reviews in IT media are also popular with 21% of the audience. But the recommendations of famous bloggers are not trusted by everyone – only 2% of respondents.
Tourism and business trips as a reason to get inspired
63% traveled across Russia while working remotely (the most popular destinations were St. Petersburg, Moscow, Sochi and Kazan). A quarter of respondents have traveled abroad in the last year. Turkey has become the most popular foreign destination among Russian tourists.
The majority prefer to take a laptop on trips (54%), especially men, while women take the device on a smaller part of their trips or tend not to take it at all (49%).
But in their free time, women want to learn new things while traveling (30%), while men want to play games and watch videos. For those who do not take a laptop with them when traveling, there is simply no such need. At the same time, for 21% of women, the weight of the device matters. The HONOR MagicBook is also compact with just 15.9mm thin and 1.38kg, making it easy to slip into your bag or backpack and enjoy performance and quality wherever you go.
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