If businesses embraced working from home, much in the way contractors often do, they would enjoy better productivity, one expert has claimed.

Shirley Borrett, the Telework Association's development director said that flexible working could help to reduce employee absence.

She explained: "If you wake up in the morning and you feel a bit rough - you think you've got the flu coming on - and you can't face the journey to work. So you don't go to work; you call in sick. That's a lost day.

However, she continued, if workers feel they can work from the comfort of their own home, they are more likely to put some hours in.

Meanwhile, the latest Markit EU Productivity PMI found that labour productivity rose across the European Union for the twentieth month in succession during December.

Additionally, the UK was seen to record by far the weakest productivity gains of the EU 'big four' last month, with worker output at its slowest since February 2009.