Working from home does not suit everyone, so it is up to employers and line managers to establish who they think truly embodies that job specification cliché of being able to work well in a team and show initiative to work independently.

Dr Maria Yapp, chief executive of business psychologists Xancam Consulting, says it is essential for home workers to be good at creating their own structure and organising how they get tasks done.

‘They also need to be able to create good boundaries between different parts of their life,’ she says. ‘Where people get into difficulties is if they allow the boundaries to merge so they end up working all night or sitting watching TV during the day.’

It is clear that workaholics and those at the other end of the motivational scale cannot work this way and need close supervision.

Many people find that blurring home and work life makes things more complicated. It may be a welcome break for people with a house full of kids or a mother to escape the stresses of home for the calmness of office life.

Employers should not assume that everyone will see home working as a perk. One way to assess how people will cope with home working is to think about whether they are introverts and extraverts.

‘Introverts are good at screening everything going on around them, so they miss the social aspects less,’ says Yapp. ‘The danger is that they become disconnected because they are less likely to drop in on a colleague.

‘Extraverts are neurologically more prone to distraction – they prefer to work in an open-plan office, but they can be less productive. So working from home will make them more productive, but they won’t be very happy.’

Both can successfully work at home, but it may be better to split their time between office and home. It is key for staff to explicitly explain how they expect to work from home, so that their boss will not be upset if they are not at their desk when they call at 9.30 on a Monday morning.

‘It’s not just asking the boss what he or she wants, but entering into a negotiation and explaining how they want to work,’ says Yapp.

So if you want to spend the afternoon gardening or playing with your children, then you need to explain that to your boss and negotiate.

Bringing these discussions into the open will make it far easier on both parties, and as Yapp points out: ‘Those who feel they have more control over how they work have less stress.’