How many home workers in uk

Working from home 'homeworking' is a type of flexible working where employees work from home some or all of the time. When making decisions about working from home, it's important to discuss it with employees. For example:. This can also help make sure that decisions about working from home are fair and follow the law on discrimination. Employers should also talk with any trade union or other employee representatives. If an employer has an existing agreement with a recognised trade union about working from home, for example an agreed homeworking policy, they must consult the trade union if they're considering any changes.

When making a decision on a formal flexible working request, employers must follow the Acas Code of Practice on flexible working requests. Employers and employees should be practical, flexible and sensitive to each other's situation when working from home because of the COVID pandemic.

There might be a need for ongoing changes to working arrangements during the pandemic. For example, because of changes to government rules or employees' circumstances. Employers should keep everyone up to date and involved in decisions about working arrangements and returning to the workplace.

And more and more people are catching on to the fact. Economic uncertainty following the Brexit vote and a fluctuating pound has done little to deter those who have gone or who are planning to go remote.

In fact, the strength of the remote-working economy has helped to bolster the UK through a tumultuous and unstable period. It's clear that the working economy is in a period of flux as more people migrate to modes of working that offer them a better work-life balance and a schedule that fits around their own schedule. But Sarah Loates, founder of Loates HR Consultancy, warned that the trend was not always in the best interests of employees. She said in response of the ONS data: "While finance directors are rubbing their hands with glee at the cost savings from dispensing with expensive serviced offices, hybrid working comes at a price, both social and economic.

Watch Live. Fill 2 Copy 11 Created with Sketch. Monday 17 May , UK. Why you can trust Sky News. The switch to homeworking meant that workers no longer needed to commute. Our analysis Time spent in lockdown split by working pattern and day type showed that between and April , the average time spent travelling for those that worked from home fell from 57 minutes to six minutes.

Figure 3 shows that in September , a greater proportion of homeworkers worked in the evening, indicating that homeworkers continued to work during hours where they may have commuted.

In , the proportion of people working from home increased around 4pm and 8pm. Overall, there were significantly fewer homeworkers in but more that worked flexibly and outside of traditional office hours. It is also likely that people took work home with them from their workplace to continue in the evening. On average, homeworkers started work slightly later than those who worked away from home in April Workers at and away from home took approximately the same length of breaks throughout their working day.

Table 1: Homeworkers are working flexibly, by starting work later and taking longer breaks than those who work away from home. In September , homeworkers pushed their start time back to am, reflecting the shift in the working day. Those who worked away from home took shorter breaks on average. In both April and September , homeworkers took more breaks than those who worked away from home, which shows how homeworkers have greater flexibility as to when they can start and stop work.

The average length of breaks for homeworkers was stable between April and September , but significantly less than those of homeworkers in Homeworking in was more concentrated in the afternoon and evening, which shifted the average start time to the afternoon.

Homeworkers in took fewer breaks from work, but they were likely to be longer. The results show how homeworkers can work flexibly, by working later and by pausing work more to manage other commitments.

Between April and September , the start time, average length of break and the number of breaks taken all increased for homeworkers. This shows how during the coronavirus COVID pandemic, homeworkers have increased their flexibility throughout their working day. While total actual hours worked fell in because of COVID, the number of paid and unpaid overtime hours remained relatively unchanged across all homeworking and non-homeworking groups.

Figure 4: Homeworkers are more likely to do unpaid overtime Total actual hours of paid and unpaid overtime, by work from home status, UK, Source: Office for National Statistics — Annual Population Survey Download this chart Figure 4: Homeworkers are more likely to do unpaid overtime Image. While those who never worked from home did more paid overtime on average, homeworkers did more hours of unpaid overtime; this has been true for both full- and part-time workers since Between and , unpaid overtime was highest for those who had recently worked from home.

However, in the hours worked by each homeworking group converged to around 6. In contrast, the amount of unpaid overtime done by those who never worked from home remained largely unchanged at 3.

Consistent with other Office for National Statistics ONS publications we calculate the sickness absence rate as the percentage of working hours that are lost due to sickness absence. Workers who did any work from home had a sickness absence rate of 0. Those that never worked from home had a higher sickness absence of 2. Figure 5: Those who do any work from home have a lower sickness absence rate than office-based workers Sickness absence rate, by work from home status, UK, to Source: Office for National Statistics — Annual Population Survey Download this chart Figure 5: Those who do any work from home have a lower sickness absence rate than office-based workers Image.

Homeworkers who mainly or recently worked from home had a lower sickness absence rate than those who reported never or occasionally working from home. From to , the sickness absence rate for those who mainly worked from home fell by 0.

The rate for recent homeworkers fell by the same amount to 0. Despite the rise in COVID cases, homeworking may have led to less exposure to germs and minimised some of the usual sickness absences.

When sick, homeworkers may not have travelled to a workplace to work but still felt well enough to work from home. By contrast, the sickness absence rate of those who reported only occasionally working from home increased to 2. Considering differences in sex, the sickness absence rate for all workers in was higher for women 2.

Disaggregated by work from home status, men and women who mainly or recently worked from home had similarly low rates of sickness absence. However, for those who never or only occasionally worked from home, the sickness absence rate for women was substantially higher. In , women who occasionally worked from home had a sickness absence rate of 3.

Prior to , employees who worked mainly at home were paid on average 6. However, the gap in pay between exclusive homeworkers and those who never work from home has been decreasing over time, as homeworking has become a more widely accepted and encouraged form of flexible working. Conversely, employees who did some homeworking and some working away from home, such as in an office fared better than those who either worked exclusively away from or at home.

Those who recently or occasionally worked from home prior to the pandemic earnt on average In , employees who mainly worked from home were paid 9. In addition, more people moved into the mainly work from home category in Previous studies show employees in higher-paying jobs are more likely to be able to work from home. As such, the compositional effect of a rise in homeworking will have increased the average pay of those who mainly worked from home.

The adjusted R-squared of the regressions a measure of how well they fit the data were all between 0. The working population for this figure does not include the self-employed. Download this chart Figure 6: Prior to COVID, there was a wage penalty for those exclusively working from home, but a wage premium for those who combined home and office work Image.

In addition to their basic pay, employees who worked mainly from home were However, those who worked recently and occasionally from home were The differences narrowed in after the onset of the pandemic. However, this is likely because of an economy-wide reduction in bonus payments that occurred to help firms cope financially with the effects of COVID Using the longitudinal Labour Force Survey LFS , we follow the same individuals across survey waves a total of five calendar quarters between and Employees who consistently worked mainly at home were less than half as likely to have received a promotion compared with those who consistently worked mainly away from home.

This finding is true even after controlling for a range of other factors, such as age, industry and occupation. Similarly, if an employee changed to mainly working from home, where previously they were mainly based away from home, they saw their chance of being promoted fall by nearly half. Conversely, when an employee moved out of mainly working from home into mainly working away from home, we find their chances of promotion was no longer significantly different to those that already worked mainly away from home.

These results are consistent with previous literature which suggests homeworkers may be overlooked when being considered for a promotion due to reduced face-to-face interaction with colleagues and managers. This may contribute to slower career progression for those who work exclusively from home. We also look at the likelihood of workers in each work from home status to have received job related education or training. As before, this is after controlling for a range of other factors such as age, industry and occupation.

All regression coefficients are weighted and statistically significant. However, in the likelihood of home-based workers to have received training relative to workers based away from home increased. This may be due to increased inclusion of homeworkers in education or training initiatives. Also, as many offices were closed in response to the pandemic, office-based training decreased. This meant more training was delivered virtually, and so became more accessible to homeworkers.

Prior to , the categories of homeworking displayed different characteristics, particularly amongst those who worked mainly from home.

These workers were more likely to be part-time workers, female, and work fewer hours. In , given the unprecedented increase in homeworking, the characteristics of the homeworking group changed.

Before , on average For those who recently or occasionally worked from home, this rose to In comparison, the incidence of full-time work was much lower amongst those who mainly worked from home at As women were disproportionately represented in part-time roles, mainly working from home was the only category with more women than men at In , the industry with the highest proportion of any homeworking was information and communication, with This was followed by professional, scientific, and technical activities