Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Working from homeLatest NewsEquality, diversity and inclusionHR practiceFamily-friendly working

Research reveals home working drawbacks

by Ross Bentley 12 May 2005
by Ross Bentley 12 May 2005

Working from home seems like a great way to balance job and life demands, but it can be fraught with pitfalls, according to research released by IBM and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

A survey of 350 remote workers across Europe found that without appropriate management support, technologies, skills and performance measures, they can end up feeling alienated, underappreciated and mistrusted, even though they may work harder than their office-based colleagues. The same can apply to employees who spend a significant amount of time working away from the office.

“If mobile working is to realise its full potential, management support, training and the opportunity to network are essential,” says Mary Sue Rogers, global leader for IBM Business Consulting Services’ human capital management practice.

According to the report 44% of respondents cited collaboration as their biggest concern.

“The greatest challenge is to co-ordinate work with other mobile workers and meet the deadlines for common tasks,” said one.
More than 40% said that they felt disadvantaged because they could not tap into ‘water-cooler’ conversations and other informal networks. Without access to this social capital, respondents said they are not hearing about company developments and opportunities.

Some mobile employees also appear to face an uphill battle to establish credibility in their organisations. Almost 40% of those surveyed felt that their office-based colleagues believed that mobile workers were not pulling their own weight. This was most pronounced in the UK, where one respondent detected ‘suspicion’ among office-based workers towards mobile employees.

However, the report found that in a lot of cases mobile workers may well toil harder than their deskbound cohorts: 61% of respondents said that when working from home, it can be difficult to switch off from work, muddling the work-life balance they were seeking. Many described a compelling need to check for messages in the evenings and at weekends, for fear of missing something important.

However, most respondents said that despite these problems they did not feel deprived of job promotions

Avatar
Ross Bentley

previous post
UK workers’ redundancy fears increase
next post
Pub smoking ban will leave northern workers at risk

You may also like

Private spaces for focused work key to office...

9 Aug 2022

Nurses set to vote on strike over pay

9 Aug 2022

Top earners’ pay soars by 10% while lowest-paid...

8 Aug 2022

National Payroll Week: A compliance guide for SMEs...

8 Aug 2022

‘Pushy’ lawyer awarded £152k for sex discrimination

8 Aug 2022

Something new to get stressed about: hello Premier...

5 Aug 2022

Economic outlook slows hiring despite skills shortfalls

5 Aug 2022

ESG for HR: Emma Burrows talks to Oven-Ready...

5 Aug 2022

How introverts can become brilliant leaders

5 Aug 2022

EU member states to make carer work-life balance...

5 Aug 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+