Working from home 'can boost productivity'

Mon, 10 Jan 2011

Working from home 'can boost productivity'

Managers who allow their employees to work from home may see productivity improve as a result.

This is the opinion of Mark Lewis of IT infrastructure firm Riverbed Technology, who explained that personnel are less likely to become sidetracked when they are operating away from the office.

"If organisations have the right infrastructure in place, working from home can often prove to be more productive to many employees as there are less distractions," he explained.

Mr Lewis added that advances in technology have made it possible for employees to access services such as email and other applications "with ease and speed" regardless of where they are in the world.

However, he also noted that businesses may not want to rely on workers who exclusively work from home, as "extended periods" of being out of the office can result in people "missing the social interaction" they get when operating alongside their colleagues.

His comments support the results of survey produced by oneDrum last November, which showed that remote working enables staff to dedicate more of their day to relevant activities and encourage them to concentrate more on tasks that require a lot of thought.

But some managers are yet to be convinced of the benefits of allowing workers such flexibility, as research from Lumison, published earlier this month, showed that 50 per cent of workers surveyed believe their superiors are sceptical about the amount of work that gets done by employees who are not in the office.

The majority (73 per cent) of those questioned said they would be more productive if allowed to work from home.

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