Employees Who Work from Home

3. Benefits and Risks

3.1 The main benefit of working from home is increased productivity, through:

• More efficient use of time.For example, fewer interruptions and less commuting time.
• Improved employee retention.For example, helping parents who need to fit in with school-age children.
• Reduced levels of sick leave and stress.
• Improving the chance of recruiting the most able candidates. Potential recruits may prefer the option of full, part-time or casual homeworking, or flexitime.
• Control over the office environment, eg noise, heat, ventilation and lighting.

3.2 The main problems with working from home are similar to those of running a decentralised business.

Particular risks and problems can include:

• Losing touch with employees and difficulty in arranging ad hoc meetings.
• Increased initial training requirements and expenditure on setting up home offices.
• Reduced loyalty due to increased isolation.
• Deterioration in employees' skills and work quality.
• Difficulty in controlling the security of information.
• Poorly-managed homeworking can lead to confused goals, standards, expectations and systems.