The biggest barrier to managers allowing their team members to work from home some or all of the week is still their attitude. Being able to see their staff sitting in front of a computer somehow fills them with confidence that they are working 110%. However in my own experience the weekly or daily audio conference call still has the power to bring people to account for the work they have been doing, perhaps even more so when they are on the same call as their collegaues and peers.
A recent article in the Money section of the Guardian on the topic of the rise in homeworking cites several examples of how home working is actually improving business and productivity. Caroline Waters, BT’s director of people and policy backs up BT’s claim that it gets an average of 20% more work from its home-working employees stating:
“It works amazingly for us. You get great productivity, reduced sick absence, high levels of performance. And we know it works for a lot of other organisations, because we help a lot of them put it in place.”
As an ex-BT home-worker myself and can fully testify to this statement. I tended to work longer hours as I had no commute to negotiate and I took fewer sick days as I was able to work when I felt up to it and rest when I needed to. With two young children in nursery and school it was the ideal arrangement. My manager got the best of me as did my family.
So for employers who do not want to promote home working I think you’re missing a trick, and actually what you are saying to your company is that you don’t trust your employees, which begs the question: why did you hire them in the first place?
