10th December 2015
A flexible approach to working is becoming the norm in many organisations, whether that is flexible hours or the ability to work from home – employees now have more control than ever over their working lives.
In fact, almost a third of employees now say that they work more productively than ever when they are not in the office, according to new research by Redcentric. The YouGov survey of over 2,000 adults was undertaken to discover the attitudes of both employers and employees towards home working.
With modern technology workers are no longer just pinned to an office chair. VPNs, Skype, Go To Meeting and even Facetime offer organisations the ability to keep in touch with employees regardless of whether they are working from home, a client site or a coffee shop with WiFi access, all with little or no outlay to the organisation.
The research found that 54% of UK office workers are currently able to work remotely, with only 17% of those workers reporting that remote working reduced their efficiency. The majority of respondents (70%) said that they feel it is important for businesses to allow their employees to work remotely, with only 22% believing that this flexibility is unimportant.
However, 23% of employees say that their business simply didn’t like them working remotely, potentially for reasons such as data privacy and loss of productivity. Just over one in ten (12%) stated that their business’ IT systems weren’t modern enough to facilitate remote working.
But homeworking can offer very real benefits not only to employees but organisations as well. Having a relaxed approach to flexible working can enable the business to recruit from any geographical location, meaning that regional or international expansion is very much a reality for all, regardless of size or turnover.
There is also the wellbeing aspect – employees that are ‘trusted’ feel valued and therefore perform better. It also goes without saying that not having the distractions of an office will result in employees being able to get their heads down and work through tasks in a more productive manner.
With the ready availability of fast Internet connections and Cloud based applications and data storage, technology should no longer be an issue or a barrier to employees being able to work from home. It is vital that organisations look to offer this type of work pattern to all employees in order to not only boost productivity but to also ensure business growth.
