Company Culture and draconian bosses are the biggest barriers to flexible working

According to a survey of 1,000 business people by Lumison, in many instances bosses simply don't trust their staff to work from home, even though staff 73% of staff believe they would be happier and more effective.

 
According to the findings, 65% of employees claim to work longer hours when they are at home and 63% already have all the technology they need to work effectively from home
 
But half said their bosses remain sceptical about whether people are really working if they aren't in the office, only 33% of respondents said their company has a set policy on flexible working and 27% even went so far as to say their bosses ‘value being present over being productive'.
 
Aydin Kurt-Elli, CEO of Lumison, said: "Many businesses are stuck in a Dickensian mindset of presenteeism. They must embrace the fact they will have a healthier, happier and more effective workforce if they support flexible working practices. This isn't about going soft on staff, it's about making the business more effective and that should be the top objective for any boss.
 
"Bosses who don't understand this will lose out. As the economy picks up and hiring gets back on the agenda, the very best employees will pick those companies that help them work most effectively.

"Companies that limit themselves to only hiring staff who need to be in an office, at a desk, with somebody breathing down their neck in order to even look productive are going to get very uninspired staff. In the course of this research we heard stories of bosses making staff walk for hours through the recent snow fall rather than get a full day's work out of them from home. Then there were staff who couldn't get in because their company had no flexible working provision, and simply got a day off. That kind of shortsightedness all has a cost attached to it."