UK failing on flexible working options

UK companies are failing to offer employees flexible and remote working options.

Almost three-quarters (71 percent) of UK workers said their companies either do not offer any flexible working options at all or discourage it even if it is available, according to a YouGov survey for Orange Business Services.

More than a third (39 percent) said their companies do not offer flexible working options and another third (32 percent) said even if their company did offer some type of flexible working, it was either discouraged or impractical.

More than half (56 percent) of the 1,400 UK workers quizzed said they would like to work outside the office.

A coffee shop was the most popular out-of-office location for 26 percent of respondents, and a further quarter opted for a library to complete work tasks, the YouGov poll found.

But 41 percent of respondents said they could not do their job other than in their assigned place of work, the research reveals.

Flexible working is becoming increasingly important with the IT crowd because of the benefits of improving their work/life balance and upping productivity, according to separate research from an online recruiter.