The employment team at Wake Smith are advising businesses to get to grips with the realities of home working as the UK government encourages more of us to set up work from home to assist with congestion surrounding the 2012 Olympics. A recent survey from the Confederation of British Industry also confirms that although the proportion of workers who work at home is still relatively low, it is on the increase and growing fast. So is home working of benefit to those outside the capital and a serious consideration to employers looking to accommodate a new way of working with equal benefit to both sides? Partner and solicitor Holly Dobson in the Employment and Litigation team at Wake Smith said: "Home working appeals to both employees and employers for a range of reasons - in the current climate, the incentives are often financial but we are also seeing an increasing number of staff wishing to be more hands on with family." Employers should consider a host of practical and legal issues before permitting or encouraging staff to work from home including confidentiality, data protection, health and safety, means for measuring productivity as well as appropriate measures to manage, supervise and appraise a staff member. Holly adds: "Discrimination is another key area that may easily be overlooked when considering home working. There is no automatic right to work from home but a number of employment protections may be engaged such as with family friendly policies for flexible working. It is also an employer's duty's to make reasonable adjustments in relation to a disabled person making a request to work from home. "Historically more women than men seek flexible working arrangements - employers must take care when considering requests to ensure that there is no indirect sex discrimination." Advantages of Home Working There are numerous advantages to home working for the employer and the employee. Home working for all or part of the time is suitable for many "knowledge" based jobs. Some of the advantages are as follows:-
- Studies show that a home worker can achieve more and provide greater productivity without distractions in the office;
- A considerable saving of commuting costs and time can be achieved;
- For those workers who need to organise their lives around the school run or caring for others, home working is a considerable advantage;
- Home working can be less stressful and it can provide an opportunity for those individuals who suffer from stress or other health problems;
- There is a possible reduction of overheads particularly for businesses based in high premium rental areas such as London and South East;
- It provides for the retention or attraction of key skilled staff;
- The desire to make the post succeed leads to a highly motivated worker;
- It provides flexibility and the issues of geography and commuting time are very much reduced allowing employers to attract a wider pool of skilled workers.
Disadvantages of Home Working There are, however, some disadvantages:-
- Successful home working depends upon an individuals' ability to work unsupervised and to self-motivate;
- A majority of employers will want a means of measuring productivity to satisfy themselves that this is a viable financial option;
- If technology breaks down this disrupts the employee productivity;
- Some employers feel that there may be a loss of team ethos and team synergy and employees can miss out on "water cooler" gossip;
- There may be a less successful ability to access colleagues, resources and team meetings although with modern technology this can largely be overcome;
- Some employees feels that there is a "stigma" to home working i.e. "out of sight is out of mind" and where there is mixed workplace and home working in an organisation there is the possibility of the home worker being overlooked.
