Home office not efficient or healthy, survey says

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Most employees who works at home have a hard time concentrating on their work, Regus study claims.

Working from home, the dream of millions of people, is not very fruitful or easy, according to a recent survey by Regus, a leading global provider of flexible workspace operating across 90 countries including Turkey.

Flexible working hours and workspace has been thrown around as an idea to tackle transportation problems and the inefficiency of conventional office environments. However, most employees who works at home have a hard time concentrating on their work, Regus said yesterday in a press release.

Some 51 percent of employees working from home in Turkey complain about failing to concentrate on their work. The ratio of Turkish employees who indicate that they feel uncomfortable to conduct phone conversations at home is also 51 percent. The figure goes even higher to 71 percent when it comes to employees who complain about main distracters such as children and other members of the family, who expect more attention.

One fifth of the Turkish respondents said they had postural disorders due to improper chairs and desks.
According to the results of the global survey, the main problem with working from home for 51 percent of the respondents was children in need for attention. This was followed by difficulties to concentrate on the work with 43 percent and family members disrupt business phone calls with 39 percent.

The survey was carried out in 90 countries with more than 24,000 employees, Regus said.