The subjects of the survey maintain they're not stressed out by longer hours caused by taking their work home with them. However, human resources departments should be increasingly aware that extra strain is being placed on workers and prepare for the consequences in extra sick leave and corporate burn-out.  Pundits have been talking about the rise of teleworking for over 20 years, but as of yet large scale mobile and teleworkforces have failed to develop. Figures from the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) show that just over five per cent of the UK workforce - 1.5 million people - spend a significant amount of time working from home.

Ursula Huws, associate fellow at the IES, said that according to ongoing research, one in 10 European employers make use of laptop technologies. She concluded reductions in the price of technology and telecoms, as well as a change in work practices, all combined to make mobile working increasingly prevalent. Richard Scase, professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Kent, said the figures show the UK experiencing a sea change in attitudes to mobile working.  He told silicon.com: "The UK is increasingly becoming an information economy. People are working with their brains, so there is less and less justification for keeping them in the workplace." However, Scase added that the moves to new ways of working still faced widespread management opposition. "The potential of laptop technologies prevented from being fulfilled by a culture of management which says we don't trust you unless you come in to work every day. We have to change that if we are to realise the potential of new technologies that enable people to work from home," he said.