Less than 50% of people who work from home are satisfied with their home office space, with a quarter of them forced to work in the kitchen, 37% in the spare room and 10% "hotdesking" it to anywhere they can find, according to a survey by Lexmark.

The distant memory of your air-conditioned office, gossiping with workmates around the water cooler, may seem all the sweeter when you're sitting alone in a rickety chair in some far corner of your living room.

Curiously, contrary to expectations of an easier life, one of the challenges facing professional home workers has been a tendency to overdo it and work too hard, according to a survey by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Many have found themselves unable to "escape" work, extending their hours into the evenings and the weekends.