Tech Talk: 6 killer benefits of working from anywhere
A MASSIVE £11.5bn could be added to the UK economy if businesses threw their weight behind a ‘work from anywhere’ culture.
But research on 3.5m job adverts from jobs site Timewise found that just 6.2% of advertised jobs mentioned a degree of flexibility and offered a salary the full time equivalent of £20,000 or more.
Read Microsoft’s ultimate guide to flexible working
When half of Britain’s working population wants to work flexibly – why aren’t employers giving them the option?
Here are six killer stats that prove that working from anywhere, well, works.
1. Job satisfaction
According to a study by Microsoft of 1,000 Britons, more than 80% of SME employees who requested flexibly working from their employers said it has made a positive difference to their working life.
More than 30% said they noticed a “big, positive change” in their working life after requesting flexible working. One in three workers (33%) said that fewer distractions would help them be more productive.
2. Productivity
We’ve all been there – chained to our desks, feeling unproductive and counting down the hours until 5pm. This often leads to guilty feelings that bother us hours after we’ve switched off our computers and run out the doors. Flexible working is an answer to this quandary. 
According to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), 92% of Britons who are currently working would be able to manage their time more effectively, thus allowing them to devote extra time to work tasks, if they had the flexibility.
The study, which surveyed 1,272 Britons, found that over half (52%) of respondents would be able to use up to three hours of their working week more effectively, if given the opportunity to work flexibly.
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3. Saving Money
Did you know: the number of commuters spending more than two hours travelling to and from work has increased by 72% over the past 10 years?
According to Trades Union Congress, this number has increased from 1.7m in 2004 to 3m in 2014. Don’t even get us started on the rail/Tube fare price increases over the years.
4. Improving Staff Retention
Draw a roster of employer nightmares and losing a competent employee tops the list.
A study by the Institute of Leadership and Management that surveyed more than 1,000 organisations found that in order to retain talented staff employers should put proper “structures in place for workers to feel valued in their roles”.
5. Getting more work done and being more creative
About 70% of UK office workers “get more done” if they work flexibly and 38% say they are more creative when flexible, a report by Microsoft in 2013 found.
6. Responding better to customer needs
Customer is king and flexible working helps employers serve them better. According to research, 62% of managers said flexible working helped their organisation respond better to customer needs.
