Introducing home-working to reduce company travel costs has been rejected by the majority of small businesses.

Fewer than one in 10 (8%) of organisations surveyed by YouGov said they had faith that employees would still do their job away from the office.

In contrast, two-fifths (42%) of workers believe they could do a better job remotely, provided they had the right technology to manage and support them.

The YouGov research suggests that many businesses are still following outdated working practices, such as ‘presenteeism’ where it is thought that if employees are not at their desks they are not working.

“This boils down to a matter of trust,” said John Wright, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses.

BT Business, which commissioned the independent research in association with Nortel, allows its employees to work remotely and has discovered the benefits.

John Dovey, IT services director at BT Business, said: “BT’s 70,000 flexible workers have saved us £500 million in building costs and 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

"We can effectively manage our employees and have seen a 30% rise in productivity.”

YouGov surveyed 3,473 workers in firms with less than 500 staff, who had been employed for at least three months.

A separate survey by The Fuelcard Company found that 77% think their firms should introduce home working at least twice a week to cut congestion (Fleet News, March 5).