SMBs shun home working

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 6 Jul 2007 at 13:45

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are less likely to have the technology in place to allow staff to work flexibly, a new study has found.

The survey of over 200 heads of human resources, commissioned by Citrix Online, found that only 43 per cent of SMBs have the right technology in place to support home workers, compared to over three quarters of large enterprises.

David Lennan, chairman of flexible working group Work Wise UK said that the SMB sector can make a positive impact on work-life balance in the UK. "Having smaller workforces, SMBs tend to think that any changes they make in working practices will not have a significant impact on the economy as a whole," he claims. "But of the 1.1 million enterprises in the UK, 99 per cent are SMBs, so there is most certainly potential for the sector to make a major contribution."

Of the companies surveyed which do offer IT support for home working, 70 per cent said they supply laptops and 35 per cent supply mobile phones, but only one in four allow remote access to internal systems and networks.