57% of workers believe they are more productive when working from home than in the workplace.
Only 12% report that it makes them more distracted, and just five per cent say it has a negative effect on their productivity, according to a study by CartridgePeople.com.
The study found that 30.5% of the UK workforce currently works from home, in their survey of 1,096 British employees.
According to research by Virgin Media Business, the number is set to increase to 60% over the next decade.
A survey of business leaders at the Global Leadership Summit in London also echoed the predictions, with 34% saying that more than half of their business’ full-time workers will work remotely by 2020.
The South of England and the Midlands are currently trailblazing with flexible working options.
Only one northern city, Manchester, made it into the top 5 home working capitals of the UK, and Newcastle and Leeds were listed in the top 10.
Andrew Davies, spokesperson for CartridgePeople.com, explained to Executive Grapevine how HR can monitor employees who choose to work from home. He says: “Given the number of tools and software now available for remote workers, keeping an open path of communication with staff is really quite easy. Collaborative working has never been easier thanks to tools like Work Chat and iDoneThis.
“We can now speak to colleagues within seconds via apps such as Whatsapp, and software such as Dropbox is great for sharing files between home workers and those in the workplace. However, whilst these are all excellent tools, there is a certain level of trust that is required to enable employers to benefit from flexible working.”
