Home workers spend more time sleeping and exercising, survey shows

People who work from home spend more time sleeping and exercising than those who travel to work, a survey has found.

Home workers save an average of 56 minutes a day from not commuting, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This frees time for them to get 24 more minutes of “sleep and rest” and 15 extra minutes of “exercise, sports and wellbeing” on any given day, compared with those who work away from home.

The survey looked at the activities of people on weekdays and who work at least seven hours.

The ONS said about 28% of all working adults in Britain are hybrid employees, meaning they work some days from home and commute to the office on others.

A separate study conducted between April and June showed working parents and managers over 30 were more likely to be hybrid employees.

Some 29% of workers aged 30 and over had a hybrid working pattern, compared to 9% of those aged between 16 and 29.

This partly reflects how younger people are more likely to have jobs in hospitality and retail, which include customer-facing roles like waiting or bar work, the ONS suggested.

Some 35% of working parents have a hybrid pattern, compared with 24% of working people who are not parents.

The proportion of managers, directors and people in senior positions who hybrid work is 45%, while just 3% of those working in caring, leisure and other services are hybrid employees, the survey showed.