Aussies doing more work from home

Nearly one in four Australian workers spends at least five hours working outside the office each week and one in 10 dedicates at least 10 hours – or 13 weeks each year – to working on the run, a study revealed today.

The poll of 2034 working Australians, conducted for Telstra, showed almost half spend more time working outside the workplace than they did just five years ago. Men are twice as likely to spend more than 10 hours doing so.

Telstra consumer executive director Rebekah O’Flaherty said the popularity of smartphones, tablet computers and cheaper, faster mobile broadband let employees work from most locations.

Ms O’Flaherty said the trend was “not always about working more hours” but also about giving workers flexibility.

“There are times when you do have to work on the weekend, but do you want to go into the office or do you want to work from home and continue what you need to get done? In that instance, I see (this trend) as a positive thing,” she said.

Jess Heading, 27, of Brisbane, said she used a BlackBerry to deal with work email during her daily commute and spent about five hours each week working from outside her McCullough Robertson Lawyers office.

Ms Heading said the law firm encouraged flexible work practices, including working from home on an ad hoc or regular basis.

“The policy’s been in place for a number of years, but I think the uptake increases with each year and everyone is encouraged to do it,” she said.