Homeworking overtime and sickness rates

New analysis published by the Office for National Statistics has revealed significant variation in overtime hours and sickness rates of homeworkers compared to employees who never work from home.

In 2020, the data shows that homeworkers undertook an average of six hours’ unpaid overtime each week, almost double the amount completed by their counterparts who did no work from home. Conversely, people who never worked from home actually did more paid overtime on average than homeworkers.

Sickness absence rates also varied considerably between the two groups. The rate for the average employee who did any work from home was 0.9% in 2020 (equivalent to 2.0 days lost per worker); in comparison it was 2.2% (4.3 days lost per worker) for those who never completed any work from home.

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All details are correct at the time of writing (11 May 2021).