Assumptions:

1. Productivity will drop significantly.
2. The boss wants to see their employees lined up in front of them.
3. The job can't be done from home.
4. The company worries about the costs associated with home working.

1. The idea that productivity will drop has been proven to be incorrect:
A two-year long study by Stanford University in California showed an astounding productivity boost among the telecommuters equivalent to a full day's work. It turns out the employees who work from home work a true full-shift (or more) versus being late to the office or leaving early multiple times a week, and found it less distracting and easier to concentrate at home. 

Additionally, and rather suprisingly, employee attrition decreased by 50 per cent among the telecommuters. They took shorter breaks, had fewer sick days, and took less time off. Not to mention the reduced carbon emissions from fewer cars clogging up the morning commute.

One thing that the study really brought to light, the company saved almost $2,000 per employee on rent by reducing the amount of expensive in-town office space.

2. Bosses may change their minds:
'If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?'
Many employers are of this view, and who can blame them? If they can't see what you're doing, you might be paying games whilst you sit at home in your pyjamas. It all comes down to trust and proper management backed up by good technology. If you can still meet your goals and deadlines whilst working remotely, then why not? As we've already presented, productivity will be higher, your employees will be happier and your business will be financially better off.

3. The thought that a job can't be done from home is almost always wrong:
Ok, there are of course many jobs that cannot be done from home – no dispute there, but many can. Up to 83 per cent of education based jobs can be done from home. Other sectors high on the list are professional, scientific, and technical services, business management, finance and insurance, and information services. Technology now affords us the ability to sit courses online, and later the same day hold a board meeting via Zoom. Why waste the fuel on face-to-face (not that there’s never a place for it) but did you really have to drive for two hours to hand in you business card to a prospective client‘s receptionist?

4. Investment will be returned – big time:

As the chart above shows, whilst there is an investment that must be made to facilitate home working (for example: a YouKube) the long term financial gains are not to be scoffed at. Do you really need that city office with its rent, rates, electricity costs, not to mention the canteen you lay on for your employees each day? And it’s not just employers who make savings – by not having to do things like commuting and buying lunch every day, the average employed worker saves £44.78 every week.

With the onslaught of COVID-19 still raging in the UK, and almost the entire workforce at home, change is coming! The benefits of home working have shown themselves to many an employer and employee.