In every one of our Contractor Attitude Surveys, the ability to work flexibly has always scored very highly as one of the key benefits of running your own business – so it was no surprise to see that fact reinforced yet again by the latest YouGov survey, which was commissioned by PeoplePerHour.
Why commute?
As communications technology has advanced, the opportunities to work remotely have increased dramatically – and as the saying goes, ‘work is no longer somewhere you go but something you do’. Or at least that should be the case. Yet 91% of UK workers still commute to a place of work each day. In fact, the YouGov survey found that almost 10% of those have a commute of more than three hours a day, or 720 hours a year! At the other end of the scale, 28% have a commute of less than an hour, but that’s still 240 hours in a year. Surely there has to be a better way?
What’s the answer?
Of course, there is a better way, as limited company contractors well know. The opportunities to work flexibly are that much greater – or if you can’t work from home, you can at least choose a contract that’s not too far away. In fact, this latest survey found that only 2% of employees work from home, while 44% of self-employed people do. That’s quite a difference! At the moment, 7% of the UK population, who are of working age, work from home – but as technology continues to advance, we can only hope this figure will increase. And it’s good to know that contractors are already well ahead of the game!
Commenting on the desire for more home working opportunities, founder and CEO of PeoplePerHour Xenios Thrasyvoulou said, “Remote working is the future of the office and the self-employed have taken the opportunity on board early on and embraced the tech advancements that make collaboration possible across continents and time zones. Hopefully, the tide will soon turn for the rest of the employed population and both business and the workforce will benefit.”