Partner Article

Negative attitudes towards mobile working are holding back UK businesses

A quarter of UK bosses say that employees are viewed negatively by their organisation if they ask to work from home or out of the office. This is according to a report released today by webexpenses, a cloud-based expenses platform. The research, which was conducted amongst office based staff and managers, also found that a third of employees are worried that their boss will see them in a bad light if they ask to work remotely.

However, in spite of this, the research highlights some of the positive business benefits that employers and their staff feel mobile working can unlock. Nearly 40% (39.70%) of UK bosses say that they can see the positive impact that mobile working has on their business’ bottom line. In addition, nearly a third (32.9%) of employees feel they do more work at home than in the office, with a further 36.6% saying that working out of the office brings fewer distractions.

The research, conducted by webexpenses to coincide with the release of its new app for tablet devices, also highlights some of the personal benefits that a flexible approach to mobile working can bring for employees. Over half (55.6%) of employees say that they could save substantial amounts of money on commuting if they could work from home more often, with a further 49.2% stating that they would achieve a greater work/life balance.

Sanjay Parekh, Co-founder of webexpenses, said:

“It is clear from our research that both employers and their staff see the huge advantages that can be gained from remote working – especially in respect to productivity and company profits. Unfortunately, there seems to be a cultural disconnect within many organisations when it comes to staff working out of the office – this culminating in staff feeling that they will be viewed negatively when requesting to work remotely. This is an almost Victorian way of looking at things, and I would urge more UK business leaders to embrace the remote working model.

“Huge advances in cloud computing mean that an employee’s decision to work from home, or out of the office, doesn’t have to be viewed with negativity. There is a huge number of cloud-based products and services out there that can support all businesses in unlocking the advantages of mobile working. In fact, it’s with these business advantages in mind that we’ve developed our apps for smartphones and tablet devices – helping more UK businesses to simplify the way they track and process company expenses claims.

“With almost 40% of the bosses we surveyed saying that mobile working has had a positive impact on their bottom line, I believe that embracing a flexible working culture could bring financial rewards for UK businesses and the economy as a whole.

For more information about webexpenses and its latest products visit www.webexpenses.com.

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