Ms Joanne Mangan:

They can. They can bring structure for parents in particular, who may wish to have a separation of work and life and may like to be in a hub away from home where they can focus on their job. It all comes down to choice. It is still important, however, that the time people are getting back from their commute, which for some can be two hours a day and really adds up, is time they should be spending doing something for themselves. It is their own time. We are discussing work-life balance and the benefits remote working brings. It is not really helping employee's work-life balance if there is an expectation on the part of the employer that the employee will spend that time working or that the employee feels pressured to work that way. It comes back to the idea of the right to disconnect. It is tricky because one wants to give people who wish to work early in the morning the opportunity to do that while also ensuring they understand they can switch off when they need to do so.