English-speaking countries have the highest levels of home working around the globe, with the UK ranking second only to Canada in the number of days typically worked from home.
According to home working statistics from the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, people work from home on average 0.9 days per week, but in English-speaking countries, the average rose to 1.4 days. In the UK, the average was 1.5 days WFH, while in Canada it was 1.7 days, in the US (1.4 days), Australia (1.3), New Zealand (1.0), South Africa and Singapore (0.9).
European companies averaged 0.8 days WFH, ranging from 0.5 days in Greece, 0.6 days in France and Denmark, to 1.0 days in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands.
In the survey of 42,000 workers across 34 countries, researchers also asked employees how many days they wanted to work from home. Across the globe, the average was 2.0 days. UK workers wanted 2.3 days on average, less than in Canada (2.5) and the US (2.6), but more than France (1.7) and Germany (1.8).
The survey also asked workers how many days their employers planned for them to work from home. The average response was 1.1 days, in the UK it was 1.7, again behind Canada (1.8) and the US (1.9). In France, it was 0.7 days and in Germany, 1.2 days.
Workers in every country covered by the home working research reported having to go to work premises more often than they would like.
“What we’re seeing is that employees really value the option to work from home,” said Mathias Dolls, deputy director of the Ifo Centre for Macroeconomics and Surveys. “However, there’s a gap between the number of days that employees would like to work from home and the number that their employers are planning for them.”
In the countries surveyed, two-thirds of workers (66.5%) worked fully in the workplace, 25.7% had hybrid arrangements, and 7.9% worked fully from home.
Asked about the benefits of working from home, 59.7% or respondents cited “no commute”, 43.8% said saving money on food and commuting costs, 41.9% cited flexibility over when they work, and 38.0% said it was because they could spend less time getting ready for work.
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Top benefits of working on their employer’s premises included socialising with colleagues (62.0%), face-to-face collaboration (54.4) and clearer boundaries between work and personal time (42.7%).
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