Home working an ‘antidote’ to stress

People who work from home are less likely to experience stress than their office-based colleagues, a new report has suggested.

According to research conducted by Durham Business School, just four out of ten home workers said they felt a great deal of stress compared to 65 per cent of office employees.

Employers also benefit from home working, the study claimed.

Some 69 per cent of home workers reported that they identified with their employers’ problems and were prepared to take on extra tasks, while only 67 per cent of office workers said the same.

Tom Redman, professor of human resource management at the Durham Business School, said: “It seems that working from home is an antidote to the stresses of office-based working.”

Professor Redman added that employers should not see home working as encouraging lower levels of commitment in employees: “Employers were worried that staff who worked from home would not be as committed to those extra duties where employees go above and beyond the call of duty for their company. We found that working from home did not undermine this behaviour.”

Date:26 March 2008