Working from home can help to improve employee morale and lower the rates of absenteeism from sickness.

This is according to recent research led by Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA), which looked at ten major employers, including Barclays, Unilever, Nationwide and the Civil Service. It concluded that both businesses and employees stand to gain from the informal option of being able to work from home.

For an employer, the set up means that the overhead costs relating to office space should start to decrease, while sickness and absence levels also tend to fall, while greater levels of morale and performance are recorded.

Meanwhile, workers tend to find that their work-life balance is improved when given the option to work from home because their travel times are cut and they are able to find periods for quiet, uninterrupted work. Established workers who are confident about the requirements of their job were shown to be the most likely to benefit from working from home.

Andrew Mawson, managing director at AWA, commented on the research: “Management trust and clear objectives are critical to making a success of informal homeworking, requiring the right training and a positive approach to measuring performance based on output.”