Working from home may be a double-edged sword, research from the Economic and Social Research Council has suggested.

The report warned that although some home workers experience less stress and are better motivated, many found that home-working upset their work/life balance.

The Economic and Social Research Council has questioned the benefits of home working for employees and their employer.

Forum Response: Economic and Social Research Council

Dr Jeanne Moore, author of the ESRC report, told ePolitix.com: "Many of those in professional occupations recognised that negotiating the home/work boundary was essential to successful home working. A woman who ran her own IT company said, 'It's almost like schizophrenia...You've got to be able to put work in a box'.

"But for others, particularly those working in traditional occupations like packing and assembly work, there's no boundary. A young father who carried out electrical assembly work told me: 'There's not enough room for my work and my family. Sometimes I feel like throwing all of my work things out the window'.

"It's important to recognise that home working does shape the way people feel about their homes, and doesn't always have a positive impact."

Forum Response: Institute of Directors

A spokesman for the IoD told ePolitix.com: "The proportion of staff engaged in home working is still relatively small. But undoubtedly the trend is moving in that direction and the speed of the change is quickening.

"There has certainly been a shift in attitudes among both employers and employees. Cost is certainly an important factor likely to accelerate the pace of change, as are changes in people's home lives.

"Ultimately, if home working is proving advantageous for staff and bosses then it can only be a positive step."

Forum Response: Adecco

Charlotte Tripp, Adecco account director, told ePolitix.com: "Home working offers employers the opportunity to lead the way in the development flexible working practices.

"It is an extremely practical solution to many of the problems that our some of clients face with office relocations and company restructures and it will improve retention of experienced employees who may moved on otherwise."

"However, employers will also be forced to consider the health and safety implications of encouraging employee's to work from home. The Health and Safety Executive considers home workers as being in the same category as employees who are working on their employers premises.

"Adecco's preliminary research has highlighted some areas that employers will need consider when setting up employee's at home. Every employee who works from home will require a health and safety inspection and it is important to establish employers liability for employee's whilst they are working from home.

"Standard domestic insurance will not cover home workers and their tax code will also be to altered to reflect their circumstances.

"Home working offers flexibility for both the employer and employee, which has not been available within traditional nine till five working practices.

"Employees can fit their work around their other commitments without having the additional stress of commuting long distances, which can have an impact on their productivity when they begin work. Employers are offered a wider choice of candidates who have the right skills and experience to carry out the role effectively from home."

Forum Response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

Frances Wilson, HR advisor at the CIPD, told ePolitix.com: "There are lots of good reasons why employees should work from home, you can get more done at home because there are no distractions of the office. You spend less time commuting and more time with your family which means a greater work/life balance.

"However some people do find the isolation of working at home difficult, and the boredom hard to take. There is no human interaction and the employee does not hear the fringes of what is going on around a subject they may be working on.

"Technical issues can also be a problem because of lack of IT support at home as opposed to the workplace."

Forum Response: The Work Foundation

Yvonne Bennion, policy specialist at the Work Foundation, told ePolitix.com: "Figures have demonstrated in our forthcoming report: 'Time to go home: Embracing the home working revolution', that over two million people work at home using a computer and telephone for at least a day a week (ie teleworkers, not the traditional home workers).

"This figure has grown by 13 percentage points every year since 1997. More than half these workers are employees and managerial and professional people. Some 400,000 people work from home most of the time.

"Home working amongst employees is about trust and give and take. It has both freedoms and disadvantages, isn't suitable for everyone and, obviously not for all jobs. It's recent growth indicates that it is here to stay - not just as a perk for those senior enough to choose where they work - as a valuable part of flexible working and as a very productive way of working in its own right.

"So it needs and merits managing well as well as measuring employees' performance on the basis of high quality output, not by rigid emphasis on time spent on the job. And it's never, never a substitute for good quality childcare."