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The advantages of flexible working are becoming increasingly well known as companies realise that it's not just new mums and women on maternity leave that can benefit.
Shirley Borrett, development director at the Telework Association, said that in the past, flexible hours and home-based working have been confused with things like maternity benefits.
As a result, it was often viewed as an employee right and a burden on business.
However, evidence has shown that employers can also gain "enormously" from having a flexible or home-based workforce, she noted.
There are also advantages for the environment and for wider society when workers gather up their office supplies and do their jobs remotely, she added.
"There is a better understanding of the different benefits," said Ms Borrett. "More and more young people in particular are looking for flexible working and value that.
"Offering flexible and home-based working is a way of recruiting people who don't want to work in a conventional office environment. It benefits those people who for reasons of disability and circumstance find it difficult to travel."
Indeed, many companies have recognised that during the London Olympics flexible working could be a great option to help them carry on as normal in the face of widespread public transport disruption.
"Norman Baker, the transport minister, has been talking quite openly about flexible and home-based working and the advantages to travel," said Ms Borrett.
"The Olympics next year are really focusing people's minds on how thousands of extra people will get to work - the answer, of course, is 'don't travel'."
Similarly, during bouts of extreme winter weather the ability for employees to work from home with their own office equipment has proved invaluable for businesses.