Home >
Business >
Human Resources
Working at home survey.
by Simon Parsons
Article Rating: 0
Business Practices and Attitudes Relating to Home Working
Ceridian is pleased to present the results of our recent survey
relating to home workers. Freely available for downloading as a PDF document,
the full report, entitled 'Business
Practices and Attitudes Relating to Home Working - A Survey of Human Resource
Professionals in UK Business', reveals that companies need to exercise greater
control of their home workers. The main findings are summarised in the six press
releases below.
Companies failing to exercise proper control of home workers
Companies need to exercise greater control of their home workers to extract
maximum value from this growing sector of the employment market. In an in-depth
survey of 100 businesses, 86 per cent did not attempt to measure the financial
benefit to the business of home working. Four out of ten companies admitted
it was not possible to measure the savings to a business of allowing home working
with 31 per cent relying on the judgement of the relevant manager. Only eight
per cent claimed they could measure savings accurately. Indeed, only 52 per
cent seek to monitor the productivity of staff time spent at home.
"Surprisingly, 54 per cent of the companies were operating with no formal
policy in place to protect them or their employees. While this may be due to
the ad hoc development of home-based working, it still shows a clear lack of
control, backed by the fact that only 10 per cent could state that company expectations
with regard to cost savings had been largely or completely met at a time when
cost savings have never been under greater scrutiny.
More surprising still is the absence of a formal policy when duty
of care is at the top of the agenda in boardrooms throughout the country.
Health and safety as an issue was identified as a key pitfall of home working."
Doug Sawers, Managing Director of Ceridian in the UK
Only 52 per cent of companies seek to monitor the productivity of staff working
from home with 12 per cent claiming it is not possible to measure. A further
51 per cent relied on the judgement of the relevant manager, 69 per cent being
an immediate line manager.
Of those companies formally monitoring productivity, 60 per cent of respondents
reported that company expectations with regard to productivity were largely
or completely met with a further 32 per cent reporting they were met to some
extent.
"While home-based working continues to increase in popularity at a steady
rate, considerable opportunity exists for companies to exercise greater control
over these employees by introducing formal policies and measuring in greater
detail the productivity and savings to be derived from home-based workers. Currently,
many businesses would appear not to be exercising proper financial control while
at the same time leaving themselves exposed to potential health and safety liabilities."
Doug Sawers
According to the Office for National Statistics Labour Force survey, a total
of around 705,000 employees and self-employed people worked from home in 2003.
In all, 2.2m people are involved in some form of flexible working. Interestingly,
of the 397 companies originally contacted for the survey, three out of four
did not permit home working.
Home working opportunity a key to recruitment and retention
Offering the opportunity to work from home part or full-time could be a key
to staff recruitment and retention. 74 per cent of companies surveyed admitted
that, where practical, the opportunity of home-based working is a necessary
component to attract and retain the right people with 75 per cent advising that
it gives them an advantage in the job market.
"The recruitment and retention of the right people is one of the key issues
keeping HR directors awake at night. In a tight job market, any competitive
advantage can play a significant part and the opportunity to work from home
could be a deciding factor for certain employees. Our survey indicated that
57 per cent of employers felt that employees now expected this kind of flexibility.
When it comes to staff retention, employment
flexibility could be as much a deciding factor as succession planning. However,
from an employers' perspective, companies need to exercise proper control over
home working to drive real business benefit. As our survey has revealed this
is clearly not the case at the moment inside many businesses."
Doug Sawers
Home workers more difficult to manage
Only 3 per cent of businesses surveyed considered home workers easier to manage,
with 64 per cent considering them to be more difficult to a greater or lesser
degree.
"Since our survey revealed that 54 per cent of companies allowing home
working had no formal policy in place covering home workers, and management
of their productivity was usually down to their immediate line managers, it
can come as no surprise to learn that home workers are perceived as more difficult
to manage. This points to the need for the introduction of formal policies and
measurement tools by HR departments
to ensure that they derive the greatest benefit from their home workers in terms
of productivity and cost savings.
On the other hand, 41 per cent state that home-based workers are easier to
retain than office-based workers with only 21 per cent disagreeing.
Neither, in the majority of cases, does working from home seem to be harming
employees' career prospects with 56 per cent of companies advising that their
home workers are able to develop their careers at the same pace as office-based
staff."
Doug Sawers, Managing Director of Ceridian in the UK
'Productivity' tops list of benefits of home working
Productivity is the principal benefit identified by companies for home working,
although only 52 per cent seek to monitor the productivity of staff time spent
at home.
"The companies surveyed offered up more benefits than pitfalls when discussing
the advantages and disadvantages of home working. Although, not surprisingly,
trust and the potential for abuse were the top pitfalls identified, the issue
of health and safety was also very high up the agenda. For companies, with their
duty of care responsibilities, this will be a prime concern. HR professionals
have a crucial part to play in unlocking productivity and retention benefits
while implementing controls to protect their businesses."
Doug Sawers
No home working 'revolution'
Over the past five years the demand and incidence of home working has continued
to increase among those companies permitting the practice. However, the growth
appears far less dramatic than may be sometimes portrayed and of the 397 companies
originally contacted for the survey, three out of four did not permit home working.
"While increasingly popular, there is definitely no home working revolution
in progress as 75% of companies contacted for this survey did not permit home
working. Of those that did, only one company in six has indicated that the proportion
of home workers will increase in the immediate future, although half are reasonably
positive.
While four out of ten companies did not consider seniority to be an issue,
only eight per cent suggested home working was appropriate for junior management.
Essentially, there is an element of trust involved with home working so unsurprisingly
over half considered it the domain of middle and senior management."
Doug Sawers
Adopting new technology aids home working
Of the 100 businesses surveyed, 94 per cent of companies have embraced new technology
to allow home workers to work more effectively from home.
"Not surprisingly, technology has played a major part in the growth of
home-based workers. The majority have laptops for greater mobility and most
have internet access. Interestingly, 11 per cent of home-based employees even
have web cams installed for better personal interaction. Nearly half of companies,
at 43 per cent, recognised that the latest technology had improved productivity
a great deal with a further 40 per cent acknowledging it had to some extent.
The majority of employers, at 83 per cent, also had clear IT support in place
for when things went wrong.
However, while companies clearly see efficiency gains from new technology only
14% attempted to measure the overall financial benefit to the business of home
working. So on the one hand they are spending money on technology without measuring
the final returns. Again, this has to be of concern and underlines the need
for companies to exercise better overall control over home working."
Doug Sawers
Ceridian provides HR, payroll, EAP and HR consultancy services to over 50% of the Financial Times Global 500 and more than 75% of the Fortune 500. In the UK, Ceridian serves 9,600 customers with a headcount of over 1.7m and processes 24m payslips a year. It is the largest payroll provider overall, and the second largest outsourced payroll processor in terms of revenue, with over 70 years' experience in payroll in the USA and 40 years in the UK. http://www.ceridian.co.uk/
Article Source: www.businesshighlight.org
More articles by Simon Parsons:
