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The latest quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey of UK employers finds that more than two thirds of employers (69%) never or occasionally accept employee requests to work from home. This is despite the fact that, of the employers who offer home-working, only 8% believe home-workers are less productive than their office-bound colleagues, while 30% say they are more productive. The remainder of employers say home-working makes no difference to productivity.  

The report calls on employers to be more progressive to improve the morale and well-being of employees and the productivity of employers and the wider economy.  

Some key findings from the report state:  

• Flexible working arrangements for parents with young children are the most popular arrangements that organisations surveyed offer (61%).
• Top reasons given by organisations for working from home are: to increase organisational flexibility (68%), retain workforce/widen the talent pool (55%) and to meet employee demand (54%).
• Among organisations that offer working from home, over half of employers (57%) say they occasionally accept requests for fixed arrangements to work from home, and a quarter (26%) say they frequently accept such requests.
• Home working requests are accepted more regularly in the public sector (35%) than the private sector (21%). Only a tenth of employers (12%) say they never accept these requests.

The report concludes that the much-heralded revolution in home-working is yet to take place, although a quarter of employers say that home-working will increase in their organisation in the next year.  

According to CCS, Aegis Media’s own in-depth consumer insight survey, the average employee that works from home is married, aged 35-44 (27%) and earns less than £25,000 in full time employment. There is a fairly even split of male (54%) and female (46%) home working employees.

Source: KPMG News/CCS Media & Client Study (January 2008)