Poor broadband holding back homeworkers

The working-from-home trend is increasing at a phenomenal rate – according to the Office of National Statistics 4.2 million people in the UK spend at least half of their week working from home and millions more occasionally work from home.

However, workers productivity is being held back by poor home broadband, according to a survey of 3,000 Brits.

Hyperoptic, a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband provider, commissioned the research to get insight into how connectivity is affecting homeworkers.

The results highlighted that, on average, homeworkers work longer hours than their office-based counterparts. 93% of respondents work longer hours at home due to the time saved from the commute – 63% claim they work over an hour extra each day, equating to three days more over the course of a month for full-time homeworkers.

Despite investing this extra time, homeworkers are being held back by poor broadband. Nearly three quarters (72%) of workers confess that they actually feel more productive in the office, largely due to poor connectivity.

90% of respondents admit that their home broadband is slower than their office business broadband, which has a negative impact on productivity, due to dropped video calls, intermittent VPN access and time wasted spent uploading and downloading files.

The broadband bugbear is so pronounced that the respondents claim they would choose to work an extra day per week at home, if their broadband were fit for task.

Steve Holford, VP Product Marketing, Hyperoptic, comments, “We see fast, reliable home broadband as vital for effective homeworking. As businesses move to data-driven cloud-based models, remote and homeworking becomes an option for an increasing amount of staff – giving them a better work/life balance, without necessarily impacting overall business efficiency.”

“With Brits choosing to work away from the office in their droves, it’s imperative that they have the tools to be effective. Poor home broadband means wasted time – slower responses, lags in resolving customer issues and disrupted remote meetings. As we look to the future, home broadband will no doubt start to become an issue for recruitment and HR professionals alike.”

Ian Burke, director of totaljobs.com, “Today’s jobseekers are increasingly looking for roles that offer flexible working practices. As we near full employment in the UK, employers need to ensure that their recruitment strategies are aligned with the mobile worker. By considering offering employee benefits, like homeworking, recruiters can maximise their chances of attracting the best talent. Of course, in order to make these kinds of arrangements and support a mobile workforce, a fast and reliable broadband connection is essential.”