The study finds that managers perceive that employee mobility still faces resistance from British board members with around a third of Britain's bosses refusing to release the reins on their employees. Despite limited buy-in from the board, there is huge support for mobile working at management level with the emergence of a new breed of mobile managers, more than two-thirds of whom trust their employees to work anywhere and who are recognising the business benefits of mobile working.

The research, highlighting the differences between those who manage people from home or on the move and those who manage in the office, reveals that 38% of mobile managers are experiencing reduced stress while 36% cite improved job satisfaction. Tangible business benefits are also highlighted: 41% of mobile managers cite a reduction in requirement for office space; 44% a reduction in overheads; and 46% a reduction in wasted employee time. More than a quarter (26%) identified a reduction in employee absenteeism.

The research also suggests that authoritarian managers may be a thing of the past, giving way to more measured management styles in which employees are trusted to work productively wherever they are based. Overall, 35% of all managers surveyed said that they did not mind where their employees work as long as the work gets done. A further 48% of managers would not feel any diminished control when their employees work away from the office.

Managers working in larger businesses (ie more than 1,000 employees) are more willing to adopt mobile working practices and trust their employees to get on with the job than managers in smaller businesses. Contrary to the usual stereotype of large, inflexible businesses and small, flexible companies, managers in smaller businesses have been identified as having "control-freak" tendencies and are three times more likely to feel out of control if they cannot physically see their employees in the office everyday.

MORI interviewed 298 office based workers /142 office based managers in Great Britain between 7th and 12th June 2001. All interviews were conducted face to face.