BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 63

Homeworking

In Wave 63 the BICS asked businesses about whether they intend to use increased homeworking as a permanent business model going forward.

Figure 2: In the period 8 August to 21 August 2022 (Wave 63), the share of businesses that were using or intended to use increased homeworking as a permanent business model was highest in the Information & Communication (52.0%) and Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities (33.8%) sectors. The rates were much lower in some other sectors, with only 5.2% of businesses in the Accommodation & Food Services sector and 7.8% of Construction businesses using or intending to use increased homeworking as a permanent business model.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 63

In Wave 63, businesses not permanently stopped trading were asked how many days a week their employees currently work from home. 

Of businesses with employees who work from home, 58.8% reported that employees work from home one or two days a week, 22.1% reported that employees work from home three or four days per week, and 8.5% of businesses reported that employees work from home five or more days per week.

Businesses were also asked how many days per week they expect their employees will work from home in the next 12 months.  Overall, 63.1% of business expect that the number of days will likely stay the same, 7.3% of businesses expect the number of days to decrease, and 1.1% of businesses expect the number of days to increase over the next 12 months.