Partner Article

Working from Home Could Improve UK Productivity

New data suggests that businesses could increase their output by letting employees work from home. However, despite there being an increase in the number of home-workers in the UK, it is still estimated that only 6.9 million of the nation’s 38 million professionals work from home.

The findings come from CV-Library, the UK’s largest job board, and reveal that home-workers are more productive, happier and more capable of attaining a healthy work/life balance than those who work in an office. The job site surveyed over 1,800 UK professionals to gauge the working lifestyle of home-based employees and the nation’s opinions on this way of working. Key results showed that:

• 18.2% of UK professionals work from home, with a further 15.4% splitting their time between home and the office
• 84.3% of home-workers believe they are equally or more productive than office-workers
• Over three quarters (77.4%) of the UK’s entire working population agree that working from home has a positive impact on productivity
• 83.2% of home-workers find it easier to successfully manage a good work/life balance
• 65.8% of home-workers believe they worker longer hours than office-based staff
• Flexible working hours and missing gruelling commutes are the main contributions to increased productivity (27.9% and 26% respectively)

Results show that there are clear advantages to both businesses and employees when staff are able to work from home. The benefits of flexitime, fewer meetings and no gruelling commutes to the office make those that work from home more productive, happier and more able to achieve a healthy work/life balance; all of which is essential in creating valuable and successful employees.

Lee Biggins, CV-Library’s founder and managing director, comments: “Despite the increasing number of hours that British staff are working, productivity rates remain low in the UK, indicating that our approach to business and the working day needs to shift. Whilst home-working isn’t suitable for all businesses, it can provide clear benefits to companies and employees alike. As long as employers manage their employees effectively and monitor productivity levels, it should be easy to determine which environment works best for staff, and ultimately, the company’s output.”

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