Member Article

Home workers fear being 'out of sight, out of mind'

Working from home reduces stress in office workers but leads to fears about career progression, according to new research from Durham University. The research, led by Durham Business School, showed that home workers worried about missing-out on “water-cooler networking” – where potential opportunities for moving up the ladder are discussed informally in the office.

Despite these concerns the study also found that working from home generally had a positive effect on an employee’s work/life balance, giving them more time with family and leading to less stress and burnout.

43 per cent of respondents who worked more than 20 hours per week at home reported feeling a great deal of stress because of their job compared to 65 per cent of employees who worked solely in the office.

The researchers also said their findings should allay the concerns of employers who worry that working from home reduces their employees’ commitment to take on additional duties for the good of a company.

Professor Tom Redman, Professor of Human Resource Management at Durham Business School, and leader of the research team, said: “There were worries from those we surveyed about a lack of face-time in an organisation – simply because their face wasn’t there to be seen. “It seems at least for managerial and professional employees in knowledge-based industries that working from home is an antidote to the stresses of office-based working, but this may be at the expense of lower levels of support for career development.”

“Employers were worried that staff who worked from home would not be as committed to those extra duties where employees go above and beyond the call of duty for their company. However we found that working from home did not undermine this behaviour and the interesting challenge for the future is to see how staff can become corporate citizens electronically.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .