Homeworking could add £11.5 billion to UK economy, study finds

Research from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr) has examined the benefits of allowing employees to work from home could have on the UK economy.

The study found that homeworking could have major benefits for both public and private sector organisations, allowing businesses to address current financial challenges by doing more with less. It was revealed that 96 per cent of employees in the UK who have the option available to them to work at home will utilise this opportunity, with a further 83 per cent saying they would work remotely if they were able to do so.

According to Cebr, if flexible working was made more widely available, it could add an extra £11.5 billion per year to the UK economy through the more productive use of available working hours, the equivalent of 0.7 per cent of GDP. Furthermore, for the employees themselves, being able to work from home could save commuters as much as £7.1 billion by not having to spend time and money on travelling to the office.

Cebr’s research found that most workers in the UK would ideally like to work remotely for an average of two days per week. Allowing this would mean that 533 million less hours would be spent commuting every year. As well as the financial benefits this could bring, it would also represent an improved work-life balance for members of staff.

Enabling remote working could break down barriers to employment, meaning that people who currently cannot get certain jobs because of long commutes would no longer struggle to find work. Moreover, parents with young children and those with disabilities would also stand to benefit if employers allowed them to work from home more often.

Should this economically inactive part of the UK population re-enter the workforce due to a change in working culture, this could boost the UK’s GVA by up to £78.5 billion, Cebr says in the report.

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