Makeshift offices threaten productivity, worker safety
More than half of workers globally have a home office, but having a
fully-equipped professional space at home is much rarer and businesses
hardly make the necessary investment.
This was one of the key findings of a research conducted by the
world's largest provider of flexible workspace, Regus.
The local arm of Regus - Regus Sri Lanka - revealed further
information on home working trends in Sri Lanka and on the extensive
research conducted in more than 100 countries and covering over 44,000
senior business people.
Over the past few years, Sri Lanka has witnessed a steady shift
towards companies allowing employees to work from home. In local tech
companies, this seems to be a common practice primarily when it comes to
jobs such as software development where the developer could work from
his or her home office while communicating with the team via tools such
as email and chat.
Home working
One of the main reasons for home working to spread is the relatively
low cost of broadband and related devices such as laptops and PCs. Home
working is gradually making its way into other industries in Sri Lanka
due to the perceived benefits it provides.
However, while there may be a few benefits, the Regus research has
shown that across the globe, home working has several drawbacks.
Some of the key findings of the research are:
Home office is not a professional space - 61 percent of workers said
that they have a home office but only 51 percent claimed that it is a
professional space that is conducive to working at optimum levels.
Less support from companies - While a fifth said that it would take a
whole month's salary for them to properly equip a professional working
space within their home, only around a third (34 percent) reported that
their company had contributed to equipping their home office.
This invariably means that companies that encourage home working made
a saving. Significant annual running costs - Respondents on average
reported that running costs for a home office came to about £3,400 or
equivalent per year. In fact, half of workers believe that helping
workers create a professional workspace in their own homes can save
businesses money in the long run.
Hidden risks - 79% of respondents confirmed that companies that
encouraged their employees to work from home are not aware that they
must ensure that health and safety standards are implemented and 77%
reported that they do not take out the appropriate insurance cover on
this home workspace.
Financial benefits
This revealed a hidden risk, as to achieve a relatively small saving,
companies could potentially be incurring all sorts of higher expenses by
not regulating the environment their staff works from.
Other key findings showed that more than one in ten respondents (12
percent) report that fully equipping a home office would cost even more
than a full month's salary. 79 percent of respondents confirm that most
companies that encourage their employees to work from home do not cover
all the costs of creating and maintaining that workspace while almost
half (49 percent) of workers globally think that most companies that
encourage their employees to work from home are simply trying to
transfer the cost of having workspace on to the employee.
Given this extensive research, the financial benefits of remote
working for employees and employer are clear.
However, it also shows that many businesses are missing out on a
valuable opportunity by failing to fully commit.
While there is a clear business advantage to ensuring staff work
effectively and safely when away from the office, the figures suggest
that too many firms risk incurring higher expenses by not regulating
remote work environments.
In conclusion, a small investment in offering workers access to
full-equipped, professional work spaces close to home could help firms
provide a fully compliant environment for flexible workers, saving staff
money too. Founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1989, Regus is the global
workplace provider based in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock
Exchange.
Regus' network of more than 2,300 business centres in 850 cities and
104 countries provides convenient, quality, fully serviced spaces for
people to work, whether for a few minutes or a few years. Companies such
as Google, Toshiba and GlaxoSmithKline choose Regus so that they can
work flexibly and make their businesses more successful.
Regus has opened wherever its 2.1 million members want support - city
centres, suburban districts, shopping centres and retail outlets,
railway stations, motorway service stations and even community centres.
(This article is based on a report by Regus,a research company) |