B1 · Working from home — Unit 2, Pre-intermediate to Intermediate English
B1 · Working from home at Pre-intermediate to Intermediate level (CEFR A2–B1).
Reading: Working from home
Many people have started working from home in recent years. Although it saves commuting time, it can be hard to separate work and personal life. Some employees suggest having a fixed schedule and a quiet workspace. Managers have noticed that team communication has improved when regular online meetings are planned. However, not everyone has a good internet connection at home, which can affect productivity. A recent survey found that most workers would prefer a hybrid model—some days at home and some in the office.
The survey asked 2,400 employees across eleven countries, and the results were less simple than the headline suggests.
Sixty-eight per cent said they would prefer a hybrid arrangement, but the two groups behind that figure wanted very different things. Employees with young children wanted flexibility about which days; employees living alone wanted the opposite, and said that a fixed office day was the only reliable social contact in their week. A policy that satisfies one group irritates the other.
The reported disadvantages were also not the ones managers expected. Poor internet came fifth. Ahead of it were the difficulty of stopping work in the evening, the loss of casual conversations where problems get solved, a lack of proper equipment at home, and — reported by nearly a third of those under thirty — the feeling that they were learning far less than they would in an office.
That last point deserves attention. A junior employee learns most of the job by overhearing it. On a video call, nobody overhears anything, because every conversation has been deliberately arranged and only the people who need to be there are invited.
Several companies have responded by making one day a week compulsory for whole teams rather than for individuals. Coming in on a day when nobody else does removes the only advantage of coming in at all.
The honest conclusion is that nobody has solved this yet. Home working is neither the disaster some employers predicted in 2020 nor the straightforward improvement many employees describe. It is a trade, and the price is not paid equally: the people who gain most are experienced staff with a spare room, and the people who lose most are the youngest and the newest.
Any policy that ignores that difference will be popular with the people writing it.
This is the free sample from this unit. The full unit adds comprehension questions with an answer key, the listening exercises, flashcards for the vocabulary above, and a speaking task — with your progress tracked so the next unit unlocks when you are ready for it.
Common questions
What level is this unit?
Pre-intermediate to Intermediate — roughly CEFR A2–B1. If you are not sure of your level, the course places you with a short diagnostic before you start rather than making you guess.
Do I need to pay to use this?
The reading passage and vocabulary on this page are free to read. The rest of the unit — the remaining passages, the exercises, the listening, the answer key and the progress tracking — is part of the paid General English course.
Is this British or American English?
British English spelling and vocabulary, which is what most learners in Azerbaijan are taught and what IELTS expects, though both are accepted in the exam.