Small businesses still averse to “work from home” option for employees

Published 19 January 2010

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) in UK are missing out on the benefits of home working because they lack the technology to enable workers to do their jobs remotely, although their bosses are in favour of it, according to new research from collaboration firm oneDrum.

The study revealed that while 72% of SMBs offer the opportunity to work from home, 61% of employees never do. Lack of access to documents outside the office is a common barrier.

Jasper Westerway, CEO of oneDrum, said: "Many respondents stated that working from home wasn't an option because they needed access to documents and colleagues. SMBs need trust both the technology and their employees to treat their data with care and attention."

Over 80% of respondents said that they felt they could be more productive when working from home, mainly because of fewer distractions. One-third of workers said that they could do all or most of their work from home.

Despite these figures, over half (55%) of employers failed to see that flexible working policies could increase employee productivity.

The survey quizzed 606 employees and 610 employers in November 2009. All the businesses used in the survey had lesser than 250 employees

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