British Employers Failing to Provide Working at Home Resources

How many employees have the resources for homeworking?

In the largest survey of its kind in Britain, we asked 1,983 employees, working from home all or most of the time, if they had all of the resources that they need.

Almost half of employees surveyed (45%) said that their employer is not always providing all of the necessary resources that they need to work from home. These resources include a laptop or desktop, software applications, access to data and documents.

Those working for SMEs (50%) or working from home for the first time (49%) are the most affected and are having to provide their own resources to cope with the demands of homeworking.

Analysing the survey responses in further detail provides insights that managers will find useful when engaging with their staff and supporting them to work from home successfully. 

Survey findings: Working from home resources

• Lack of resources: Around half of the survey respondents (55%) stated that their employer has provided everything that they need to work from home.
  
  
  1. Company size: Those working for large organisations (250+ employees) were more likely to say that their employers have provided all of the necessary resources compared to  those working for SMEs  (59% vs. 50%).
     
     
  2. Industry: Almost two-thirds of those working in Transportation & Distribution (66%), Hospitality and Leisure (64%) or Medical & Health Services (63%) stated that their employer had provided all of the necessary resources, compared with a third of those working in Legal (36%) or Education (32%).
  3. Experience: Those with previous experience of working from home are more likely to say their employers have provided all the necessary resources, compared with those who are working from home for the first time (69% vs. 51%).
     
     
• Personal resources: A third of respondents (33%) said that although they are receiving support from their employer, they are using some of their own resources to enable them to successfully work from home. A further 6% are providing all their own resources, while 5% are missing some of the resources they need to successfully work from home.
  
  

About the Skillcast WFH Insights Survey

Skillcast is the leading provider of compliance e-learning and staff compliance tools to companies in the UK, ranging from FTSE 100 giants to small and mid-sized businesses.

In May 2020, Skillcast commissioned YouGov to undertake the largest study of its kind in the Great Britain, based on responses from 1,983 participants qualified as working from home all or most of the time. Fieldwork took place online between 23rd April and 4th May 2020.

This is just a taster of the full survey results. For further insights by the size of firm, the industry sector, region and demographics, email us at insights@skillcast.com.

To see more primary research results from our surveys, read our Insights blogs.

Need more help with working from home compliance?

Working from home presents specific challenges to maintaining regulatory compliance. This is why your senior managers and compliance officers will need a resilient, scalable plan.

Our 3-step compliance training and assessment roadmap will help put your homeworking environment on a much stronger footing.

It includes a 10-minute training module for all staff, a 15-minute training module for managers and a self-assessment.

You can access all of these training aids for free, and they are available for roll-out as part of our Compliance Essentials Course Library.

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You can follow our ongoing YouGov research into compliance issues, attitudes and risk perceptions in the UK workplace through our Compliance Insights blogs.

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If you've any questions or concerns about compliance or e-learning, please get in touch.

We are happy to help!