Place of work and working conditions – UK

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This record examines the incidence of working away from the normal place of the work in the UK. It finds that this phenomenon is growing, although it is more prevalent in some sectors and areas of the country than others. People who work away from the place of work are covered by the same health and safety legislation as office-based workers, although they are likely to be less aware of their rights than office-based workers. Working away from the place of work offers a range of benefits to the employer, the employee and the environment, although there are a number of potential problems, such as social isolation, that need to be managed effectively.

1. Incidence of working away from the place of work

People who work away from the place of work are referred to as teleworkers and as homeworkers in the UK. The UK Labour Force Survey classifies homeworkers as peopled who work mainly in their own home, or in different places using home as a base, in their main job. The LFS does not contain a definition of “mainly”, although it could be assumed that this means more than 50 per cent of the time. It classifies teleworkers as a sub-group of homeworkers, who use both a telephone and a computer to work at home, or in different places using home as a base. It classifies TC teleworkers as a subgroup of teleworkers, who could not work at home, or in different places using home as a base, without using both a telephone and a computer. People who do not mainly telework but who did so during the LFS reference week are not included in the LFS. It is estimated that there were around one million people in this category in spring 2005.

The number of teleworkers, classified as people who use phones and computers to work mainly from home, more than doubled in the UK between spring 1997 and spring 2005, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (Labour Market Trends, October 2005), rising from 921,000 in 1997 to 2.4 million in the UK in spring 2005. In terms of the proportion of the workforce, teleworkers accounted for four per cent of all workers in 1997, rising to eight per cent in spring 2005.

The majority of teleworkers (1.8 million) work in different places, using their home as a base, although 603,000 of the 2.4 million teleworkers work mainly at home. The number of teleworkers who work in different places increased significantly between 1997 and 2005, accounting for two per cent of all workers in 1997 and six per cent of all workers in 2005.

The number of teleworkers who could not work without using both a phone and a computer rose from 737,000 in 1997 to 2.1 million in 2005. The total number of home workers, which includes those who do not use telecommunication technologies to work from home, was 3.1 million in 2005.

Overall, around two-thirds (65 per cent) of teleworkers are male. In spring 2005, the teleworking rate for men was 11 per cent, compared with six per cent of women. The proportion of workers, who teleworked in their own home, was marginally higher for women than for men (three per cent and two per cent respectively). Around three-quarters of all teleworkers work in the private sector.

In terms of occupation, 23 per cent of all teleworkers are managers and senior officials, a further 23 per cent are associate professional and technical staff and 18 per cent are professional staff. The majority of teleworkers (62 per cent) are self-employed.

In terms of sector, 24 per cent of teleworkers work in real estate, renting and business activities, 23 per cent work in construction, 11 per cent in manufacturing and 11 per cent in education. The construction sector also experienced the largest increase in teleworking rates between spring 1997 and spring 2005, rising from eight per cent to 23 per cent. Across all industry groups, the practice of teleworking in different places, using home as a base, is more common than teleworking at home. The practice of teleworking at home was highest in the banking, finance and insurance sector (five per cent in spring 2005). It should be noted, however, that the estimates of teleworkers who work in their own home are based on small samples.

In geographical terms, teleworking is most prevalent in the East, London, the South East and the North West of the UK, where teleworkers made up around 10 per cent of all workers. Teleworking was least prevalent in the North East, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2004 found that the percentage of employers who allow homeworking rose from 16 per cent in 1998 to 28 per cent in 2004. It also found that the practice of allowing homeworking was more common in workplaces where women were not in the majority.

Table 1 Characteristics of homeworkers and teleworkers in the UK, spring 2005, not seasonally adjusted (%)
Characteristics of homeworkers and teleworkers in the UK, spring 2005, not seasonally adjusted (%)

	All in employ-ment	Homeworkers*			Of which: teleworkers*			Of which: TC teleworkers*
		Works mainly in own home	Works in different places using home as a base	Total	Works mainly in own home	Works in different places using home as a base	Total	Works mainly in own home	Works in different places using home as a base	Total
Men	53	36	79	68	41	78	65	44	78	66
Women	47	64	21	32	59	22	35	56	22	34
Employment status
Employee	87	32	35	34	34	37	36	36	39	38
Self-employed	13	62	64	64	62	63	62	60	60	60
Unpaid family member	0	6	1	2	5	1	2	5	1	2
Full-time	72	49	79	72	53	81	72	54	82	73
Part-time	28	51	21	28	47	19	28	46	18	27
Managers and senior officials	16	19	14	16	23	22	23	25	23	24
Professional occupations	13	14	12	13	16	19	18	17	20	19
Associate professional and technical	17	23	15	17	26	21	23	27	22	24
Administrative and secretarial	7	22	2	7	22	3	10	21	3	9
Skilled trades occupations	27	5	34	27	3	25	17	3	23	16
Personal services occupations	7	12	5	7	7	2	4	4	1	2
Sales and customer service occupations	3	2	3	3	2	3	2	2	3	2
Process plant and machine operatives	6	2	8	6	1	3	2	1	3	2
Elementary occupations	5	1	7	5	0	2	1	0	2	1
Total in thousands	28,049	768	2,324	3,092	603	1,774	2,377	524	1,538	2,062

Source: Labour Force Survey.

*Definitions:

Homeworkers work mainly in their own home, or in different places using home as a base, in their main job.

Teleworkers are a subgroup of homeworkers who use both a telephone and a computer to work at home, or in different places using home as a base.

TC teleworkers are a subgroup of teleworkers who could not work at home, or in different places using home as a base, without using both a telephone and a computer.

2. Health and safety

The joint text, Guidance on Teleworking – As agreed by TUC, CBI and CEEP UK, which sets out how the EU social partners’ agreement on teleworking can be implemented in the UK context, contains a chapter on health and safety, which sets out the main issues. It states clearly that the employer has responsibility for the protection of the occupational health and safety of teleworkers, in accordance with EU Directives, national legislation and collective agreements. It also states, however, that employees must also take reasonable care of their own health and safety.

Specific hazards mentioned include those arising from electrical equipment and visual display units (VDUs), the workstation, seating, lighting, heating and ventilation. Work with VDUs can give rise to back pain, repetitive strain injury (RSI), stress or visual discomfort if adequate precautions are not taken.

UK legislation protecting workers who work with VDUs (The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations) also covers teleworkers and require employers to assess and reduce risks, ensure workstations meet minimum requirements, plan breaks or changes of activity, provide eye tests on request and provide health and safety training and information. The joint text also states that it is good practice for teleworkers themselves to carry out a self-assessment of the risks from work activities carried out in the home.

The joint text states that employers are responsible for the safety of the equipment they supply. However, the teleworkers’ domestic electrical system is their own responsibility. The agreement states that teleworkers may stop work in the event of serious danger arising from the work they are doing, without this affecting their employment rights. In this case, they should inform their employer.

The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published in 2004 information entitled ‘Health and Safety of Homeworkers: good practice case studies’, looking at 12 organisations in four industry sectors. In this, it found a range of examples of good practice in managing health and safety for people who work at home that are consistent with published HSE guidance. The survey also found that participating organisations were at different stages of development in terms of achieving successful management of the health and safety of homeworkers. It also found that many organisations, while having elements of good practice, also have scope for further improvement. The organisations in the study are not named, but are drawn from the textiles sector, the packing, assembly and finishing sector, the electrical and electronics sector and the business services sector. Companies studied include a domestic ironing service, a greetings card company, a manufacturer of lampshades, an electrical components manufacturer, a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, an electrical assembly and soldering company, a local authority employing data processing workers, a large multinational telecommunications company and a large utilities company.

The HSE also published, in 1996, guidance on the health and safety issues involved in homeworking. However, HSE research since then has indicated that awareness of health and safety among homeworkers and employers is quite poor, as is access to health and safety information, equipment and training. The HSE also found that risk assessments were not being carried out in many cases.

According to a survey conducted by ICM Research, for the organisation Home Working Solutions, 47 per cent of computer users working from home suffer from computer-related injuries. Common injuries include eyestrain, headaches, back and neck aches, as well as Upper Limb Disorders such as pains in the wrists, lower arms, elbows and shoulders.

The survey questioned a fully representative sample of 1,020 people about their computer usage. The data in the survey can be broken down according to sex, age, social class, region and type of ailment covered. Overall, one in two of these computer users suffer with pains associated with their computer use. In addition, the results of the survey indicate that 70 per cent of the people who use their computer at home had either not received any training or advice on setting up their workstation to suit their build and work pattern or had taught it themselves. When asked about what people sit on, 42 per cent said that the chair they use to work at their computer is not specifically designed for computer use. Alongside this, 83 per cent of respondents did not have software on their computer that prompted them to take breaks when necessary.

3. Work organisation

Much of the information in this section is taken from a study carried out by Incomes Data Services in 1995, looking at homeworking in five UK organisations (the telecommunications company British Telecommunications (BT), the Charity Commission, the schools inspection body Ofsted, Surrey County Council and the business process outsourcing company Vertex) (IDS HR Studies No. 793, Homeworking, March 2005). The terms “homeworker” and “teleworker” are used interchangeably to describe employees who work habitually away from the company premises.

Autonomy/supervision

In the first instance, many companies select people who are working in jobs that, by their nature, do not require a great deal of supervision. Some organisations, such as the Charity Commission, require employees to have a minimum length of service with the organisation before they can apply for homeworking.

BT occasionally judges employees to be unsuitable for home working for a range of reasons, for example, if an employees has a gregarious nature, they may be more suited to working in an office than working on their own at home. When deciding whether to grant permission for homeworking, the Charity Commission assesses issues such as the nature of the work, whether a person is a satisfactory performer, whether they have the ability to organise work and act unsupervised, and whether they have sufficient technical knowledge to work from home for significant periods of time. At Vertex, employees can be turned down for homeworking if they have a poor sickness record, although all cases would be looked at on a case-by-case basis. At Vertex, homeworkers undergo a trial period of six months, at the end of which they can return to office-based work, although this does not mean that they will automatically be reinstated in their previous job. The homeworker’s team manager also has the power to decide to return a homeworker to his or her previous job, if the homeworking is not deemed to be successful.

In terms of pace of work, one of the main problems with teleworking appears to be linked to the technology, centring on how to maintain work flow when computer links break down.

Social support

Trade unions are concerned about issues such as lack of social support for workers who work at home. The UK trade union Manufacturing Science Finance (MSF, now Amicus) has issued a voluntary code of practice for employees in which it states that “to avoid isolation, contracts of employment should require home workers to periodically attend the office.” Further, it states that there should be regular meetings between teleworkers and the provision of electronic mail and telephone links with other teleworkers, at the employer’s expense, in addition to regular weekly liaison meetings between teleworkers and their supervisors.

A number of companies have put into place policies that ensure that homeworkers are not isolated. For example, at Vertex, homeworkers work in area-based teams of no more than 15 people who live not more than around 20 miles away from each other. The company maintains that this makes it easier for homeworkers to see each other for work and socially. Team managers are encouraged to keep in touch regularly with their staff and meetings can be held at the manager’s home or even in a local pub.

BT issues homeworkers with a “meet me” number to allow them to make and receive conference calls, in order to help them to keep in touch with each other and with the company. It also provides hot-desking facilities.

The IDS study acknowledges that managing employees remotely can present difficulties: “For the arrangement to work effectively there has to be a high degree of trust between homeworkers and managers because the latter cannot use traditional office-based methods of controlling both their staff and the hours they work.” For this reason, the study notes that homeworkers tend to be managed in a more task-oriented way, on the basis of agreed targets and objectives, although they are subject to the same performance appraisal as office-based colleagues.

Homeworkers at Ofsted are particularly susceptible to isolation and stress, particularly in the early years, as they work alone as inspectors. The organisation has introduced a “virtual classroom”, in which home-based workers can meet online for a live forum and discussion.

Job demands and pace of work

The company case studies cited in the IDS study do not highlight or examine in any depth any difference in pace of work or the job demands placed on individuals who work away from their normal place of work. However, many employees, such as those at Surrey County Council, have found that they can pace their work to suit their lifestyles, enabling them to improve their work-life balance. At Ofsted, home-based workers do not have to work rigid hours as the emphasis is on work output and targets. Nevertheless, Ofsted recognises that the demands of the job may be more likely to become unmanageable for home-based workers than for their office-based colleagues and the company therefore states that managers and home-based workers should jointly agree on working and contactable hours.

4. Working time and work/life balance

At present, UK employees have a legal right to request flexible working arrangements, if they have a child that is under six or a disabled child. The Work and Families Bill, which came into force in June 2006, will extend this right in April 2007 to carers of sick adult or elderly relatives. The Telework Association in the UK is suggesting that flexible working request should be available to all workers in order not to create anomalies.

All five organisations examined in the above-mentioned IDS study stated that significant amounts of commuting time were saved by homeworkers. Over 12 months BT estimates that flexible working as a whole saves BT homeworkers in total the equivalent of 1,800 years of commuting and £9.7 million in travel costs. Other organisations cite the fact that homeworking has allowed employees to use the time that they once spent travelling to work more productively.

A survey of teleworking published by the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies initiative contains five case studies of UK. In this, two UK organisations – BT and Heathrow Airport (BAA Heathrow) – reported significant reductions in time spent commuting, with 81.3 per cent of teleworkers at BAA reporting savings of between one and two hours and 18.8% saving between three and five hours. At BT, 10 per cent of employees reported saving upwards of 16 hours a week.

All organisations in the IDS study also pointed to the positive work-life balance effects of homeworking, allowing workers to match their working patterns with other important aspects of their lives. This reduces stress and increases overall contentment. According to staff surveys at BT, its home-based employees are seven per cent more content in their job than their office-based colleagues. Vertex found that its homeworkers take less short-term sickness absence and also return to work after long-term sickness absence more quickly than their office-based colleagues.

However, the Charity Commission cited distraction by domestic issues as a drawback to homeworking.

The European Commission’s survey found that at BT and at the BAA Heathrow, 75.2 per cent and 60 per cent of employees respectively said that teleworking and homeworking had resulted in them having more time available for non-work activities. Employees cited greater autonomy and flexibility in work planning and performance.

In terms of working hours, the European Commission survey found some evidence of working time having increased as a result of teleworking. A total of 38.9 per cent of employees at BAA and 75.7 per cent of employees at BT said that their working time had increased, with 71.4 per cent of BAA employees stating that it had increased by up to five hours and 28.6 per cent of between six and 10 hours a week. At BT, 29.1 per cent of employees said that it had increased by up to five hours a week, 40.2 per cent said that it had increased by between six and 10 hours a week, 15.4 per cent by between 11 and 15 hours a week and 11 per cent by 16 or more hours a week.

The National Group on Homeworking, in its briefing paper on teleworking, lists the positive aspects of teleworking and working at home. These include:

• savings for employers on expensive office space in city centre locations;

• increased employee productivity and motivation;

• a positive contribution to meeting equal opportunity commitments;

• a reduction in pollution;

• a contribution to enabling workers to continue their career when caring responsibilities could have meant having to give up their office-based job;

• greater autonomy, flexibility and independence for the employee;

• savings in travel costs and time; and

• improved work-life balance.

It also points to the potential disadvantages of teleworking and homeworking, such as isolation, inadequate health and safety provision, lack of training and reduced promotion prospects.

In terms of the organisation of the working time of homeworkers, organisations tend to monitor work output and targets rather than obliging them to work rigid hours. At Ofsted, work schedules are agreed months in advance and allocated via an electronic system. The system allows home-based workers to juggle an often heavy workload. At Vertex, homeworkers work on a shift system, but they are allowed to switch shifts with other members of the team, provided that business needs are met.

5. Views of the national centre

Teleworking and working away from the place of work is a phenomenon that is increasing steadily in the UK. The joint text agreed by the CBI, the TUC and CEEP UK sets out a framework within which this type of working can flourish in the UK. In terms of the composition of the non-office-based workforce, one interesting factor is the fact that over two-thirds of teleworkers are men. This may be linked to the fact that teleworking is most common among managers, professionals and technical staff, who are predominantly male.

Health and safety for those who work away from the place of work remains an issue in the UK. Although teleworkers are protected by the same health and safety legislation as office-based workers, research from the UK’s Health and Safety Executive appears to indicate that improvements could be made to awareness of rights and obligations and that the practice of carrying out risk assessments needs to be improved. However, it should be noted this is not uniformly the case in the UK – the case studies examined here all take their health and safety responsibilities for homeworkers seriously, although these are clearly best practice examples.

It is clear that teleworking brings many benefits. For the employer, these include increased employee motivation, reduced sickness absence, improved productivity and a higher retention rate. For the employee, these include a better work-life balance, less stress, more flexibility in work organisation and higher general contentment. There are also benefits for the environment in terms of less commuting to and from the place of work.

Those involved must also, however, be aware of the potential pitfalls of teleworking, notably problems with workflow that are linked to the breakdown of technology, problems of isolation and also the potential problems associated with working in a domestic setting. Many organisations are aware of these issues and, as highlighted in the above-mentioned IDS study, have concentrated their efforts into preventing them, for example by ensuring that teleworkers have adequate opportunities to communicate and socialise with other company employees.

Andrea Broughton, Institute for Employment Studies

References

“Home-based working using communication technologies”, Yolanda Ruiz and Annette Walling, Labour Market Division, Office for National Statistics. Labour Market Trends, October 2005.

“Health and safety of homeworkers: Good practice case studies.” Research report 262, prepared by the Health and Safety Laboratory for the Health and Safety Executive 2004. Rachel O’Hara, Julian Williamson, Alison Collins, Danny Higginson, Health and Safety Laboratory, Broad Lane Sheffield S3 7HQ.

“Homeworking” IDS HR Study 793, March 2005. Available for purchase from Incomes Data Services, Sweet & Maxwell, P.O. Box 2000, Andover, SP10 9AG.

“Inside the workplace: First findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey”, Barbara Kersley, Carmen Alpin, John Forth, Alex Bryson, Helen Bewley, Gill Dix, Sarah Oxenbridge. July 2005.

“Guidance on Teleworking – As agreed by TUC, CBI and CEEP UK”, available from the TUC (www.tuc.org.uk), CBI (www.cbi.org.uk) or CEEP UK (www.ceep.org).

“Is teleworking sustainable? An analysis of its economic, environmental and social impacts”, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society, New Working Environments, B-1049 Brussels.

“Teleworking: Working @ Home”. Briefing paper no. 5, National Group on Homeworking, Office 26, 30-38 Dock Street, Leeds LS10 1JF.

• ID: UK0701029Q
• Author: Andrea Broughton
• Institution: IRRU
• Country: United Kingdom
• Language: EN
• Publication date: 31-05-2007
• Subject: Work organisation