Working from home is good for employee engagement and good for business

remote and home workers are also happier than those who work in the office

New research published today shows that 73% of managers think that flexible working makes their teams more productive. The research from Opportunity Now, the gender equality campaign at Business in the Community, also shows that remote or home workers are happy workers. They are more likely than their office based counterparts to have a positive view of their organisation and more likely to have a positive view of their manager. It appears that any remote working pattern involving some time away from the office generates a more positive attitude than working permanently in the office.

According to the research, Out of Office: Building Teams for an Agile Future, which explores the connection between different ways of working and levels of trust, managers have also embraced the positive aspects of flexible working. 78% of managers think that agile or flexible working has helped to retain and motivate important members of staff, whilst 62% of managers think that flexible working makes the team more responsive to internal and external customers.

Despite the benefits of flexible or agile working cited by managers 40% believe that their organisation does not recognise or reward the talents and contributions of all employees whatever hours they work.  52% of people who have flexible working hours think that their working pattern will have a detrimental impact on their career progression.

The research also indicated that employees believe their leaders are not prioritising people issues. 48% of employees do not think that leaders have their employee’s interests high on the agenda, whilst 1 in 3 employees believe there is a significant discrepancy between their company’s  values and how their leaders actually behave. Despite this lack of trust in senior leaders it appears that employees are generally very happy with their direct line manager and colleagues. An impressive 90% of team members feel trusted by their manager, 85% trust their line managers to support them and 91% feel trusted by their colleagues.

Judith Cherry, Head of Research and Insight at Opportunity Now and author of the research says:  “The survey suggests that managers who have a team with a variety of different working patterns have to be better managers.   When a manager’s team isn’t sat in the office directly in front of them it forces managers to think more strategically about setting objectives, monitoring performance and communicating with their team, rather than just assuming that management will just happen because they are there.”

Alison Platt, Chair of Opportunity Now and Divisional Managing Director, Europe at Bupa says, “Flexible working is not a burden to business but is a way of creating more agile and responsive organisations. These findings clearly indicate that an agile approach to job design can deliver clear business benefit.  When employers see work as an activity not a place, judge people on performance not presenteeism and create cultures which are truly agile they can reap the benefits.”

Ed Smith, Chairman of the World Wildlife Fund and Opportunity Now board member says

“For leaders to be successful they need the trust of their followers.  The results of this survey suggest that despite the difficult economic climate there are still very high levels of trust amongst teams and in line managers in general.  However it indicates that the perceived behaviour of senior leaders is out of step with their organisational values creating a credibility gap, something I have seen many times throughout my business career.”

-ENDS-