Dubious work ethics revealed as a quarter of home workers wear pyjamas all day, and yet 85 percent of home workers believe that working from home is far more productive than working in an office.

A quarter of people working from home in the UK have confessed to staying in their pyjamas all day rather than getting dressed, according to a survey by B2B group buying service, SMEDiscounts.com While the survey, which questioned employees of small businesses and start-ups, as well as entrepreneurs and freelancers, revealed that one-in-ten (11 percent) home workers get distracted by daytime TV shows such as Jeremy Kyle and Daybreak, it revealed that 85 percent of respondents believe working from home is far more productive than working in an office.

The survey also found that people working from home often worked late into the night and on weekends, as 81 percent said that having their working environment at home means they automatically put in extra time out of traditional office hours. This is backed by the finding that 56 percent of home workers claim they find it difficult to separate their home lives from their working lives.

And while over half of those surveyed worked from home anywhere between one and five days a week, the survey revealed that the ideal balance for more than half (51 percent) those questioned would be to split working time equally between home and office. Indeed, of those questioned, 14 percent said they would like to work at home one day a week, 55 percent said two to three days and 32 percent said they would ideally work from home full time. Finally, it seems that only one-in-four home workers feel guilty if they take time out from their working days to do chores such as visiting the supermarket or cleaning the house, perhaps due to the long hours they claim to put in.

Andries Smit, founder, comments: “As remote working becomes more common due to flexible working policies and an increase in freelancers, contract workers and entrepreneurs, work life and home life are no longer separate. Many people who work from home are self-employed, and so in that sense it’s not surprising they find themselves putting in extra hours. “It’s also quite entertaining to think that some of the UK’s foremost entrepreneurs are making major deals while sitting at home in their PJs and dressing gowns. Some business secrets are best kept behind closed doors.”