Jan 18, 2013

Working from home this snowday? Report reveals the benefits

As the country is besieged by wintery weather an increasing number of workers are taking the option to work from home; a popular option according to Microsoft research.

The Work without Walls whitepaper, published by the software giant last year, discovered the top 10 reasons people enjoyed working from home.

The thing respondents found most favourable was that working from home facilitated a better work/life balance.

Some 23% are also in favour of home-working due to environmental factors, although many may argue a little global warming may not be the worst thing in today’s freezing conditions.

However, not every business will be encouraging these schemes. As Microsoft state, some organisations are dubious of their employees’ productivity in a home-working environment: “Business leaders assume employees who work remotely and take advantage of the policy are not really working.

"This is because of the loss of control. Employers lose direct oversight and cannot witness productivity first-hand.”

However, in wintry conditions having employees commute into work can also affect productivity, with many facing delays as they journey through arctic conditions.

Some 47% of respondents said they were in favour of working from home mainly to avoid traffic and 44% wanted to avoid a long commute; both key reasons to work from home in snowy conditions.

Indeed, some 45% of respondents said the best thing about working from home was that they actually felt they were being more productive at home. 43% said they most enjoyed a quieter environment and a further 38% enjoyed a less stressful workplace at home.

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