YOUR MONEY
Home is where the work is N
As record numbers of people quit the office to set up small businesses, we look at the pros and cons of working from home
ot all that long ago the phrase ‘I’m
working from home’ was a euphemism for desperate infill between jobs while
we fired off CVs to anyone we hoped would employ us. But ‘home working’ is very different now, with more than four million Britons using their home as an office. In fact, the home-working trend is at its
WORDS BILL JAMIESON
highest since records began in 1998. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the number of home workers has grown by 1.3 million over the past 15 years to reach almost 14 per cent of the working population, up from 11 per cent in 1998. What is driving such a remarkable change?
‘The big plus of working from home is that you don’t have to commute, so you’re not tired and you save time’
For many, the convenience and economy of working from the spare room or kitchen table is a compelling attraction compared with the overheads, commuting time and expense of setting up a conventional office. The move towards home working also owes
much to two dramatic changes in our economy: advances in information technology – mobile phones, laptop computers and internet connectivity – and the growing trend towards outsourcing by big firms. Scotland, too, is seeing an upturn in home-
based business launches, with figures showing a record number of startups. Many of those businesses have been created by people who lost
their jobs during the
broadband access and connectivity across much of rural Scotland – an issue that crops up repeatedly in business forums and conferences. It’s a point strongly made by Graham Bell,
who runs the Red Shed nursery, permaculture and plant advisory business from his home at Coldstream, Berwickshire. ‘I would say that by far the biggest issue for a rural business like mine is broadband connectivity,’ he says. ‘It’s a key enabler for business. ‘We need to see a massive increase in
broadband coverage across Scotland as a whole. We have a huge rural economy here and we are in danger of losing a wonderful asset – the countryside is one of our greatest attractions, but we’re not making best use of it as an ideal setting for thousands of potential new entrepre- neurs. So better connectivity is the imperative. We could do a lot better.’ So who are the home workers? According to
the ONS report, they tend to be concentrated in higher skilled roles. Of that 4.2 million total, almost 15 per cent were working as managers or senior officials, 35 per cent were professionals or associate professionals, and a further 23 per cent were working within skilled trades. And almost two-thirds of home workers are self- employed, compared with just 7 per cent of non-home workers. The
relentless recent financial
downturn. More than 27,000 businesses were formed in Scotland last year, up 9 per cent on 2012 and the highest number of company incorporations since records began in 1997. There were 2,661 company incorporations in March this year alone, up 10 per cent on the same period in 2013; if the growth trajectory continues at this rate, more than 47,000 businesses will have been created in Scotland this year. There has also been an upsurge in business advisory, consultancy and networking groups. The home-working figures would be even higher but for continuing problems with
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WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK surge in self-employment
can also be seen in the regular labour market statistics. Taking full-time and part-time self- employed together, between January to March 2013 and January to March 2014 the number of self-employed people has powered up by a further 375,000 since that ONS report to reach 4.5 million. That is closing fast on the 5.5 million employed in the public sector (down by 203,000 from a year earlier). How long might it be before the numbers in self-employment overtake those on the public-sector payroll? On any long-term view this is an astonishing
state of affairs, barely conceivable in the depths of recession in 2009 and running counter to those long-aired concerns about the decline of
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