1 in 8 works from home

Posted by peopleperhour.com - 13/05/2008 18:00

As many as one in eight (12.5 per cent) employees now work from home, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has revealed.

This was one of the statistics released to mark National Work from Home Day on Thursday (15th May), which suggests that companies are coming around to the idea of providing their staff with flexible working opportunities.

Since 1997, the number of people working from home has risen by 600,000, to 3.5 million, a figure which experts estimate could rise to five million on Thursday.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, the organisation behind the day, said: "The benefits of working from home, even occasionally, are now widely accepted.

"Not only does it reduce the amount of commuting people have to do, enhancing their work-life balance, but many are actually more productive."

The TUC states that, if freelancers and people in self employment are included, then the South West has the largest number of home workers (15.7 per cent), followed by Eastern England (14.4 per cent) and Scotland (9.4 per cent). ADNFCR-1316-ID-18591554-ADNFCR