Storm Doris causes commuter chaos, raising questions on remote working

Cold snaps, storms and floods cost the UK billions in lost productivity every year – however, many office workers are still denied the right to work remotely.  

When minimum temperatures are just one degree Celsius below average, quarterly GDP drops by an average of £2.5billion, an analysis from the Centre for Economics and Business Research reveals.

The main cause of this cost is lost productivity, with disruption to transport reducing staff availability. However, new research by communications firm 8x8 finds that almost four in ten office workers (37%) say their business never allows them to work remotely.

Even when staff are allowed to work from home, more than six in ten (63%) are not always comfortable requesting it. One in five say they are never comfortable asking to work from home.