Working From Home Statistics UK Edition [2024]

Amid the pandemic and causal lockdown, many of us experienced the charms of working from home. All is not ideal, though, and some are even reconsidering coming back to the offices.

How many people worked from home, what they have said about that kind of business model, and do they plan on working like that in the future and other working from home statistics UK you will find out in this article.

Working From Home Statistics UK: Hours

We’ll start off by saying that nearly 5.6 million people worked from home in the UK in 2020 so that we can show you statistics on homeworking by hours.

It’s not unusual for people to find it challenging to concentrate on work while being at home. Others seem to be more productive under the same conditions.

The office environment breeds efficiency, but it could also instigate unnecessary tension in the air. On the other hand, a home is a place of cosy, rest & relaxation. Some might find all that a necessary addition to their work routine to boost their productiveness.

All being said, it is not so surprising percentages are almost evenly divided among people. But what of the division by sexes?

Working From Home Statistics UK: Gender

Would you believe me if I told you there is a slight difference between the percentage of men and women working from home when it comes to the surveyed sample of 16+ year-old employed homeworkers in the UK?

Let’s compare female and male workers in 2020:

From this homeworking statistic, we can see that male workers were just a tad more open to working from home than female workers were. 

But the dedication to work under any condition demands the sharp mind of experienced adults. How prepared were different age groups for the change in workplace scenery?

Working From Home Statistics UK: Age

To celebrate the fact that we love graphs, here’s one depicting percentages of home workers divided by age groups. Enjoy!

Looking at these statistics, we can conclude that younger generations weren’t too keen on working from home, while older ones had no such reservations. 2021 followed the same trend.

As one of the most notable workers from home, freelancers between the ages of 40-49 and 50-59 years were the most prominent age groups in 2020, accounting for 50% of all freelancers in the UK.

We expected many users to cite COVID-19 as the reason for switching to the home office, but the resulting number was still staggering.

Greater responsibilities toward one’s household come with age, so these numbers aren’t that surprising, considering there is no commuter’s hell, and the benefit of more time for house chores in-between breaks.

Working From Home Statistics UK: Regions

18.9% of employees stationed in London worked from home in 2020. Let’s have a look at the other regions as well.

Now, if these following statistics seem like a déjà vu to you – thanks! It means you’ve kept on reading and haven’t dozed off .. yet.

But more importantly, these are comparable statistics of people that listed coronavirus as the main reason for working from home divided by regions.

As England’s capital, it was to be expected London would be the most affected by the outbreak, and in effect, had the highest percentage of homeworkers, but 4/5th is still high for the rest of the country as well.

Now, let’s see how Londoners feel about working out of the office.

So as you might have noticed, many people have and probably still are working from home, but which professions are suitable for remote work?

UK Homeworking by Trade

Working from home in the UK as an option was mostly reserved for more qualified and experienced workers. The following table shows us which jobs and to which extent were done remotely in April 2020.

It would seem employees in higher positions worked from home more so than the rest during the lockdown in 2020. Other occupations like sales, customer support, caring services and others had less than 20% of people working from home.

British Business and COVID-19

The Office for National Statistics, or ONS for short, conducted a survey that included 24,500 British businesses. Here is what they had to say regarding their employees working from home. 

Show Must Go On! – could have been a business model for the year 2020. Business continuity plans were clearly in effect, but surprisingly, only a quarter of the UK office workforce was actually working from home.

Not too many people were confined to the home office before 2020, but things changed for some during the quarantine. Their numbers flourished to an extent, but it would seem most will be back in the office soon enough.

UK Homeworking Prepandemic and During Pandemic

In the last decade, homeworking has been steadily rising, but the percentages remained relatively small, especially compared to its culmination in 2020 and 2021.

As a strategy in development, working from home proved seemingly beneficial to both companies and employees.

How many people worked from home in 2020 during the Pandemic?

As we can see from the UK’s workforce statistics, at the beginning of 2020, not too many people have worked from home. However, as the coronavirus situation developed, many started working from home, whether by choice or a corporate policy.

Let’s check out the statistics showing how many people returned to their usual workspace.

The lockdown had shown people that working from home was not only possible but could be more efficient as well.

Coronavirus and Work in the UK

Most people tend to take homeworking for granted and don’t realise how beneficial it could be for their business. Here is what some in the UK had to say regarding homeworking: 

The majority generally isn’t aware of how things are when working from home, but according to HubbleHQ’s survey, that trend is changing. People have started to realise that working from home can be as productive as working from the office.

Here is what UK residents in 2020 had to say about their preferred work environment:

It would seem the notion of working from home didn’t sway a fair share of people. In the face of social distancing, it is understandable why one might feel nostalgic for the meaningful conversations next to the office water cooler.

We can see that people still prefer to attend meetings in person rather than have them online. Some things are simpler to explain when you are in the same room with your colleagues, which could easily be misinterpreted during a remote session.

There are certainly some setbacks when working remotely, like isolation and lack of human interaction, but there are advantages to it, some of which are a point of focus of this next topic.

Benefits of Homeworking in the UK

In case you were wondering what people listed as a primary advantage of remote working in the UK – we got your answer right here:

Besides no commuting, people said that spending time with their families and saving money are also key benefits of working remotely.

Productivity While Working From Home

The productivity level is a crucial aspect of every employee. The following UK productivity statistics show us some employees had difficulty maintaining their productivity working from home, while others didn’t have any such problems. Let’s see some numbers.

Interestingly, people that said their productivity was lower only occasionally worked from home. By contrast, those who work from home all the time have said that they do more work per hour than they did so before the lockdown. 

Willingness to Work From Home

The following statistics show how much people were willing to work from home in the UK.

Somewhat ironically, the last group, which was against working from home, also admitted their productivity increased during the same period.

To Sum It Up

Working from the company offices is still the #1 option for many people in the UK. But, if anything, these working from home statistics UK show that people are willing and able to adapt for their businesses to persevere.

Mind you, not all people are prepared to work from home. It takes a great deal of willpower, not to mention rearranging your home into a personal workspace. It could prove particularly challenging if there are more household members with distractions lurking around every TV corner.

Still, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Financial savings aside, I, for one, would gladly work more than regular 8-hour shifts if it meant I could look at my kids’ happy faces in person rather than glance over them in a pinned picture on some generic office desk.