Home-working in Europe set to treble

The number of staff working from home or on a mobile basis in Europe is set to treble to 27 million by 2010, according to research.

The biggest rise will be among 'multi-locational e-workers', who are either nomadic, or alternate between home and office. Their numbers are predicted to rise from 3.7 million in 2000, to 14.3 million by 2010, claims the study by the European Commission-funded Emergence project on the technology-related relocation of work.

The research claims that this type of teleworking benefits employers through increased flexibility and loyalty, while simultaneously lowering feelings of isolation that home workers often suffer.

Home-based teleworkers will also increase, from 810,000 at present, to more than 3 million by the end of the decade.

Head of the EC's New Working Methods Unit, Peter Johnston, said: "Mobility of labour and work is essential to the eurozone's success."

www.emergence.nu