Recent figures show that around 14% of people in employment are working from home

In June 2014, new right to flexible working laws were introduced in the UK, declaring that all employees – who have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks – are eligible to request flexible working, including the option of working from home. 

In a time of constantly evolving technology, it’s never been easier to access information away from the office and it can boost happiness and productivity among employees.

Graham Long, Vice President of the Enterprise Business Team at Samsung UK tells us why they support working from home: ‘’At Samsung, we believe it’s vital for people to be given the option and the tools to work flexibly, which is why we view Work from Home Week as an important and worthwhile initiative.

“Our own research reveals over a quarter of workers would opt for flexible working over a pay rise, and more than four in 10 (42%) employees strongly agree with the idea of being able to access work emails and apps outside of official working hours. Despite this, many businesses still don’t trust their employees to do so, highlighting the need to educate enterprises on the benefits of working from home. The option to work more flexibly can have a huge impact on productivity and wellbeing and with advancements in mobile technology, it is now possible for employees to work beyond the confines of the office, making working from home a choice that should be open to all rather than a select few.’’

Charles Pearce is a commodity analyst from Bristol, his office is based in Swindon. Charles normally works from home once a week. He says: “Flexibility allows me to get some household chores done during the week, it also saves on commuting time and cost. On the negative side, slow internet can be difficult and it relies on conference calls instead of face to face meetings. There are also lots of distractions, so productivity can suffer. But the positives certainly outweigh this, as I can spend with my daughter during the week and not feel pinned to the office.”

Gina Jones works from home two days a week and at her client’s office three days a week. She runs social media marketing company, Style Tribe. Gina says: The benefits from working from home are the flexible working hours, more reflection time and I find I’m actually more creative when left to my own devices to think about things more. Also, I get to spend more time with my cats, which is nice!

“The difficulties are that you do end up working longer hours from home – there’s no neat line between work and home and so you can end up thinking about work things in your downtime if you’re not careful.”.

To celebrate working from home, the team behind the working from home campaign have compiled the top five reasons to consider it: 

Money – Not only would you save money on travel costs – train tickets, petrol, parking, etc. – but not eating out for lunch on a regular basis is bound to save you some pennies too. For parents, it gives the opportunity to potentially reduce the costs of childcare.

Commute – Forget about delayed trains or road traffic dampening your spirits.

Comfort – Rather than donning a power suit or being restricted to a desk all day, choose your own dress code and working environment.

Green Living – Working from home can help reduce your carbon footprint, conserve office space for your employer, and perhaps most importantly, allow you to be the master of your own environment.

Freedom/Flexibility – Having the freedom to choose your hours and coffee breaks, while not being dragged in and out of corporate meetings all day is something that could potentially boost your overall moral and work ethic. Not to mention it allows you to create that ideal work/life balance.

For more information please see www.workfromhomeweek.co.uk

For news and regular updates @WorkFromHomeWK using #WFHW