Offering flexible employment conditions such as the option to work from home can yield dividends for both staff and employers, writes Gabrielle Monaghan

If a job candidate told their prospective employer during an interview 15 years ago that they wanted to work in their pyjamas from home a couple of days a week, chances are they'd be shown the door.

Nowadays, the majority of businesses are open to employees working from home as they struggle to attract and retain talent, a new survey indicates.

Longer commuting times, childcare issues, and the stress of modern office life are just some of the reasons employees in urban Ireland are more likely to pursue a better balance between work and home. Employers, meanwhile, are increasingly willing to make greater concessions as the economy nears full employment and recruitment costs rise.

Indeed, 74 per cent of 100 companies surveyed by human resources company Ceridian said giving staff the option of working from home is necessary to both recruit and keep the right people.

Some 75 per cent said being flexible about where staff work gives them an advantage in a tight labour market.

"It's easier to retain people when you offer them flexibility," says John Cusack, managing director of Ceridian in Ireland.

"And if you can retain employees, you cut back on the cost of going to a recruitment agency and advertising vacancies, as well as on the lost productivity of an experienced employee taking time out to train a new person."

US-based Ceridian, one of the largest providers of human resource services in the world, deployed this strategy at its own business, according to Cusack.

Because the number of staff at its British business rose to 850 from 250 in less than five years, putting pressure on office space and meeting rooms, the company gave staff the option of working from home and using hotels for meetings. This helped reduce staff turnover which, in turn, trimmed recruitment costs by a third.

A study published last year by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that, although one in four employees has a flexible working arrangement of some kind, just 8.4 per cent of employees work mostly from home.

Of the 100 businesses surveyed by Ceridian, a quarter had a formal policy on home working, while the remainder gave staff at certain levels and positions the opportunity to work outside the office on an informal basis. Some 57 per cent of employers felt their staff expected this kind of flexibility.

But while the companies involved in the survey said the benefits of offering flexible working arrangements outweighed the disadvantages, the biggest pitfalls identified by the businesses were the potential of abuse and health and safety issues.

About 64 per cent of respondents considered home-based workers more difficult to manage, with just 3 per cent perceiving them to be easier to manage.

"A lot of people are used to the discipline of getting dressed up and going to an office. When that goes away, some people find it difficult to get dressed before nine o'clock or to stay motivated," Cusack says.

"Also, people can suffer from isolation or miss the chit chat in the office."

Many employers are also failing to monitor the productivity and financial benefits of allowing staff to work from home, either full time or part time, he says. Just half of those surveyed by Ceridian sought to monitor the productivity of staff working at home, while 86 per cent did not measure the financial impact.

Managers could ask home-based employees to write a weekly status report, giving details of what they have achieved during the week. They should also keep in regular contact with staff by phone or even invite them to a formal meeting in the office, Cusack advises.

"Communication with the company or boss is key to keeping the person motivated," he says.

Employers should also consider granting a three or six-month trial to determine how suitable a member of staff or their home is for this type of work.

"For instance, employees who do a lot of their work on the phone, like telesales staff, could be in a situation where the front door bell goes a lot or there is a lot of background noise," Cusack says. "It's not very professional and it may give the impression to the customer that they are calling a small company."

Companies should be aware, too, that they still have a duty of care when staff are working from home, according to Ceridian. They may leave themselves open to compensation claims in time if they don't ensure employees have an ergonomic workspace, complete with a flat screen, external keyboard and proper chair. Some UK businesses provide home workers with an allowance to set up a workplace at home.

"It's not enough for a company to assume their employees are properly set up at home," Cusack points out. "Some companies are washing their hands of the issue and it could come back to bite them."

However, despite the pitfalls companies can face when enabling staff to work from home, most of these arrangements prove successful. The Ceridian survey showed 41 per cent of businesses believe home-based workers are easier to retain than office-based workers, with only 21 per cent disagreeing.

Working from home doesn't harm employees' career prospects either, the survey showed. Some 56 per cent of respondents to the survey said their home workers were able to develop their careers at the same pace as office-based staff.