With big corporations such as HSBC and Virgin actively encouraging their employees to work from home, a new survey has found that 40 per cent of Brits get more distracted when at home than in the workplace.
A recent study finds that the number of people working from home has increased by a fifth in 10 years and new research has been conducted to find out why people are working from home, in addition to how companies are having to chance to accommodate this trend.
The main reason employees dodge the workplace and opt to work from home is to avoid their commute – and with rail fares facing the biggest rise for five years, this is no surprise. Additionally, over a third opt to work from home to avoid the distraction of their colleagues, allowing them to concentrate on their work. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter decide to stay home so that they can take a break whenever they feel like it, with nearly one in 10 taking advantage of a long lunch.
Of the 40 per cent which get distracted when working from home, the causes of procrastination are as follows: Doing household chores, chatting to friends and family at home and running personal errands.
Looking at attitudes towards using the home as a workplace, more women than men expressed guilt about working remotely, but that still doesn’t stop 61 per cent of women staying in their pyjamas all day, compared to only 53 per cent of men.
Across the UK, the Welsh are the biggest culprits for keeping it casual – 70 per cent admit to dressing down when at home. Interestingly, during video calls some workers only bother wearing smart attire on the visible parts of their body. When it comes to missing out, Yorkshire residents have the most FOMO on office shenanigans whereas those in the South West are far happier to get away from the office, with only a handful worrying about missing out on office life.
The survey also reveals that one in five of Brits would work from home more if it were not for their company putting a limit on the number of days allowed, suggesting that businesses are limiting their employees’ productivity and flexibility.
Jon Craven, CEO of Together Mutual Insurance said: “With the average Brit working from home 13-days a year, companies are having to accommodate for this with equipment and remote-working friendly IT systems. Our findings highlighted that the average person needs £2,097 worth of technology in order to work remotely and with 40 per cent of people claiming to get distracted during work hours, it begs the question as to how beneficial remote working is for British businesses.”
