Bosses turn backs on benefits of home working

Jun 6 2008 by Sion Barry, Western Mail

THE majority of bosses are opposed or lukewarm to requests for home working despite evidence that it improves productivity of staff, according to new research

The latest quarterly Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey of UK employers finds that more than two thirds of employers (69%) never or only occasionally accept employee requests to work from home.

This is despite the fact that, of the employers who offer home-working, only 8% believe home-workers are less productive than their office-bound colleagues, while 30% say they are more productive. The remainder of employers say home-working makes no difference to productivity.

A fifth of organisations (19%) say they are more likely to accept requests from managers or professionals. The report concludes that the much heralded revolution in home working is yet to take place, although a quarter of employers say home working will increase in their organisation in the next year.

The report calls on employers to be more progressive to improve the morale and well-being of employees and the productivity of the wider economy.

Simon Jones, senior partner at KPMG’s Cardiff office, said: “In KPMG’s experience, offering home-working can be a great motivator for people. It can also put a company in a stronger position when competing to recruit and retain talented people. Flexible working can help improve the productivity, morale and wellbeing of employees.”

Gerwyn Davies, policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said: “Employers should be more accommodating about accepting requests to work from home, rather than fostering a culture of presenteeism.

“The allure of home-working for employees is becoming greater given the stress and rising costs associated with commuting. We also know that employees, particularly younger workers, are increasingly looking to work for organisations with strong green credentials – which can be enhanced by using home-working to discourage unnecessary travel. Employers and line managers should therefore have more confidence in their staff, policies and in their own management capability to ensure that they recruit, retain and make the best use of the talent they have.

“The slow increase in the take-up of home-working defies the evidence. While the cost of home-working has gone down, the cost of commuting has shot up. While a substantial majority of employers report having recruitment difficulties, a substantial minority accept requests from their workers to work from home. Inflexible approaches to home-working risk restricting the competitiveness and growth of UK organisations if employer and managerial mindsets do not change.”

Other findings of the survey include:

Over four in five employers (84%) cite job sharing as the most offered benefit/arrangement in the public sector, whereas in the private sector and voluntary sector “working from home” is the most offered arrangement (56% and 64% respectively).

Top reasons given by organisations surveyed for working from home are to increase organisational flexibility (68%), retain workforce/widen the talent pool (55%) and to meet employee demand (54%).

Among organisations that offer working from home, over half of employers (57%) say they occasionally accept requests for fixed arrangements to work from home, and a quarter (26%) say they frequently accept such requests.

Home working requests are accepted more regularly in the public than the private sectors. Thirty-five percent of public sector organisations frequently accept requests, compared to 21% of private sector organisations. Twelve percent of employers say they never accept these requests.

Two-thirds (65%) of employers surveyed say their organisations help with the costs associated with home working.