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Homeworkers get 24 more minutes of sleep a day

Getty Images Woman sitting on a sofa using a laptop. A cat and a large ceramic mug are on the windowsill behind her. She has long brown hair, and is wearing glasses and a grey cardigan.Getty Images
Data suggests homeworkers spend more time on sleep and exercise than their office-working counterparts

Homeworkers are using the time saved by not commuting to stay longer in bed, new figures suggest.

They got an average of 24 minutes extra "sleep and rest" and spent an additional 15 minutes on things such as exercise, compared with people who worked away from their homes.

The snapshot survey by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found people working from home gained almost an hour on average from not needing to commute.

The data, which includes people who worked for at least seven hours, suggested those working from home spent 10 minutes less working on average, although the ONS said its estimates were not precise enough to be sure it was the case.

The data shows where people said they were working on the day they completed the survey, rather than their wider working pattern.

The figures come as separate data showed staff wellbeing was one of the most common reasons businesses give for allowing staff to work from home, despite some firms scaling back hybrid work offers.

Working solely from home has gradually become less common since the end of the Covid pandemic.

In October, 13% of working adults in Great Britain said they did their job solely from home, according to the ONS.

But hybrid working - a mix of working from home and in the office or on a site - has become more popular, though only 28% of people said they had such a working arrangement.

The ONS said working parents were more likely to have hybrid working arrangements (35%), compared with workers that do not have children (24%).

Of working parents, men were more likely to hybrid work than women, at 41% and 30% respectively, although it is not clear what factors are driving the difference.

Managers, those aged 30 or over, and people with higher qualifications were also more likely to have hybrid working arrangements, the ONS said.

Jayne Clark Portrait photograph of Jayne Clark, outside in front of the sea. She has blonde hair and is wearing gold earrings and a red top.Jayne Clark
Jayne Clark finds it easier to sleep now she's no longer working in the office

Jayne Clark, who lives in Cornwall with her husband and two children, started working from home three years ago and says it has been hugely beneficial to her.

"Since I’ve been working from home I find I am so much more productive," says Ms Clark, who works in credit management.

She says her 45-minute commute used to leave her "stressed and exhausted" upon returning home.

"I find it easier to get to sleep [now] because I haven't got as much on my mind.”

She now sets her alarm a little later, and with no commute has an extra half an hour in the morning which she uses to go for a run or walk the dog.

Working from home has also made it easier for childcare and for school runs, she adds.

Despite the pandemic-driven trend of working from home, several high-profile companies have scrapped the practice.

Supermarket chain Asda recently said it intended to cut hybrid working as part of a business restructure and Amazon announced it would order staff back to the office five days a week from January next year.

The shift has not been confined to the private sector. Civil servants were recently informed that they would have to spend at least three days a week in the office.

Some of these moves have seemed at odds with the new Labour government’s Employment Rights Bill, which aims to strengthen access to flexible working.

Workers are already able to request flexible working arrangements from when they start a new job, but the new laws could strengthen such rights.

Additional reporting by Alex Emery