Quoted in research from the Institute of Inertia, some 24% of British employees, equivalent to 7.5 million workers, have revealed work-life balance is high on their agenda as they would prefer working from home instead of receiving increased pay.
As part of research to promote the National Work From Home Day on 20 May 2016 the information reveals interesting yet positive facts that promote working from home.
The main reason recorded in the research by 66% of the respondents for seeking the opportunity to work from home, was fewer interruptions. In terms of benefits, results showed that 48% of workers are happier when they can work from home, while 32% of staff said they feel more productive.
The top five reasons from the recorded results for better productivity when working from home include:
- Fewer interruptions
- Ability to structure their day to suit their needs
- Flexibility of working hours
- More control of their ‘to do’ list
- Fewer meetings
The study also revealed that home working is “more productive” for nearly three quarters (73%) of those of you who are 45+ year olds being more productive at home, compared to 30% for 18-24 year olds. Over 45 year olds reported feeling “more in control of their workload”, “less stressed” and “generally happier” when working from home – an important insight given that 36% of the UK’s working population will be over 50 by 2020.
Adopting a flexible mobile workspace for your employees
Cloud computing and hosted workspace solutions allow organisations to provide communication tools, software and business applications and access to documents and databases not only from anywhere such as at home, but also from almost any computer or mobile device. This has a significant impact on an organisation’s flexibility and ability to introduce new applications and systems.
One of the greatest developments over the past ten years in the way people work has been the migration to working from home. Increased office space costs, unreliable transport systems and the wide availability of broadband internet access has made working from home not just viable but a key part of the modern working environment. In the past, with traditional office networks and telephone systems, working from home either involved copying files to your laptop and taking them home or logging in to a terminal server which was housed, expensively, in the head office. It also often meant making and answering calls using your mobile phone or personal landline.
Andy Hughes, Technical Director at Synergy Technology and head of Synergy’s hosted services quotes: “Adopting a hosted workspace such as Citadel’s AppHub is revolutionising how businesses view and access information technology systems. By moving to a hosted desktop, your team can log on to their desktop from anywhere, including from home, and get the same experience as if they were working in the office. By also using Microsoft Skype for Business capabilities, they can even become part of the office communication network with all the abilities to accept and transfer calls, take part in conference calls and webinars, pick up phone messages and use Instant Messaging.”
“By adopting a hosted workspace, working from home offers employees the flexibility to work where they want, when they want and how they want and from their preferred electronic devices. It is perfect for part time workers or people who need to work around the school run. It is ideal for people who live in remote locations or travel extensively when visiting clients.”
Whatever the driving force behind a decision to provide flexible working, Citadel hosted solutions can make a difficult decision very easy to implement technically.”
Source of statistics: Institute of Inertia
Photo courtesy of: Unsplash