Managing Work - Home is Where the Heart is

After years of false starts, tele-working has taken off, as new figures show that almost half the employees at some of Britain’s best companies do some of their work from home.

The proportion of staff working one morning or afternoon a week at home has more than doubled in the past two years, from 14% to 32%, according to research for The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, 2007.

One of the reasons why tele-working has taken off is the spread of broadband internet connections. Richard Wainer, principal policy adviser at the CBI, the employers’ organisation, said: “Technology is absolutely vital.” According to Pete Bradon, head of research at Best Companies, which compiled the report, the sharpest rise in tele-working has occurred in some of the most successful companies.

48% of employees work from home for up to half a day a week at Morgan Stanley and Price Waterhouse, and 45% for a number of services companies in consultancy and insurance.
I’ll do them a favour back’.”

He also pointed to the environmental benefits of working from home. “One day a week at home is 20% less fuel. If everybody in the country did this it would make a huge difference,” he said.
Results from the survey, which canvassed 148,645 employees, show that those doing some work from home find many aspects of their job more rewarding. More people are finding their jobs stimulating by working from home than at the workplace. When asked whether they were in their dream job, more than half (51.4%) of those who work from home for some of the time said they were.

(Adapted from an article by
Zoe Thomas, The Sunday Times)