Making the switch to homeworking

Jobs that are easier to do from home tend to have higher wages

HOW ADAPTABLE ARE INDIVIDUAL JOBS?

Ability to homework score

Median hourly pay (£)

BETTER-OFF employees have been more able to work from home during the pandemic.

With homeworking encouraged where possible, nearly half (47%) of employees were working remotely in April, but that's not possible for all jobs.

An Office for National Statistics analysis looked at what kinds of jobs in the UK were more adaptable to remote working, with employees with higher hourly wages among those more able to make the switch.

Those likely to be able to work remotely with high wages include chief executives and senior officials with an average hourly wage rate of £44.08, followed by legal professionals (£39.48) and information technology and telecommunications directors (£36.33).

Gardeners, average hourly earnings of £10.27, are very unlikely to be able to work from home, as are carpenters and joiners (£13.18) and labourers (£10.25).

TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady said: "This new class divide can't just be blamed on the virus. It's the Prime Minister's job to make sure everyone gets the support they need.

"If you can't work from home, the big worry now is a local lockdown like the one in Leicester. Or having to self-isolate under the Test and Trace scheme.

“Nobody should suffer from doing the right thing. The government must extend the job retention scheme to cover those circumstances."

Using data from a pre-pandemic survey of characteristics for different jobs in the United States, the ONS identified factors associated with being less able to work from home - the need to be in a specific location, face-to-face interaction, exposure to hazards, the requirement for physical activity, and use of tools or protective equipment.

The ONS also added its own analysis looking at how far digital communication was integrated into the workplace, and whether employees have the technology they need to work from home.

Professional occupations, such as actuaries, economists and statisticians are most likely to be able to work from home.

Jobs like these involve relatively little face-to-face contact, physical activity or use of specialised tools or equipment.

In contrast, elementary occupations, such as waiting staff, security guards and cleaners, and machine operators, are much less likely to be able to work from home.

The fifth of workers most likely to be able to work from home are fairly evenly split between men (51%) and women (49%).

However, the fifth of workers least likely to be able to work from home are mostly men - 75% of workers in these jobs are men, compared with 48% of the whole workforce.