Partner Article

Innovation and productivity stifled as company approach and home IT issues workers left office-bound

Recent research has shown that UK workers are happier, more content and more productive when they work from home. The dreaded long commute becomes a thing of the past, office distractions are no longer an issue and stress levels are greatly reduced. So why are over 40% of workers still not given the opportunity to work from home, either on a permanent of semi-regular basis?

A survey of 1,300 UK workers, conducted by Crucial.com, showed that over 60% of people surveyed produced their best and most creative ideas - and were more productive overall - when they worked from home. Many people willingly worked much longer hours as there was more flexibility of working, and a third said that their firm was more likely to be considered a great place to work if it offered home working. Overall, 70% of people were more likely to work for a business that offered home working as an option to all its employees.

Interestingly, most people aren’t given the opportunity to work from home at all. This is unavoidable in many professions; medicine, construction and the public sector most notably. However, for many, home working is a feasible option, yet many have to overcome further barriers. IT issues are the biggest problem, with over one in ten people experiencing problems with their home computers, which either run too slowly or are unable to access company files properly.

IT issues clearly have a big impact on people’s ability to work from home, however some of these issues, especially a slow-running computer, are far easier to solve than many people think. Memory upgrades and new hardware is easy to purchase and install and can eradicate a great deal of the IT problems faced by home workers.

So what does this mean for employers? Essentially, it means that many UK businesses are missing out on getting the best out of their employees - if a company does not offer home working, or is not aware that its employees demand the option of home working, is it losing out on innovation? From these results, it looks like that may be the case.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Crucial.com .