Brits warm to Work from Home day

Five million expected to avoid the commute

The UK is gearing up for the second annual National Work from Home Day on 15 May.

Over five million people are expected to duck out of the commute and work from the comfort of their own homes.

The day has been organised by non-profit group Work Wise UK, which was set up by the IT Forum Foundation. Members include the TUC, CBI, British Chambers of Commerce, BT, Transport for London and the RAC Foundation.

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"The benefits of working from home, even occasionally, are now widely accepted," said Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK.

"Not only does it reduce the amount of commuting people have to do, enhancing their work-life balance, but many are actually more productive."

However, some in the IT world question whether the idea is a good one, highlighting fears over lack of security in the home and staff not being able to activate all of the IT functions they would normally access.

"This is a brilliant idea in theory, but unfortunately the reality is that many companies are still not properly equipped to allow their employees to work from home," said Roger Hockaday, director of European marketing at Aruba Networks.

"And even those that do allow it are not enabling their staff to be as productive or secure as they should be.

"Access to corporate email alone is not enough. To truly replicate the working environment, companies need to seamlessly deliver all enterprise voice, video and data applications to ensure maximum productivity away from the office. "