The study suggests that women aged 25 to 44 prefer working from home due to household responsibilities.

Around 82 percent Saudi women prefer working from home while 77 percent of Saudi men are open to the idea, according to a study conducted by the Khadija Bint Khuwailid Center.

Most women aged 25 to 44 prefer working from home due to the amount of responsibilities they have with their work and family lives.

In accordance with the Council of Ministers’ decision to increase women’s employment opportunities, home employment should be considered as a method to reduce unemployment among women, said the study.

The manager of the center, Maha Fiteihi, said the reason for women’s employment remaining stagnant is the lack of a strong Internet and communication infrastructure in the country.

There should also be proper training on electronics and the usage of computers and a supervisory committee to ensure transparency.

Journalist Muna Abu Suleiman said the Council of Ministers’ decision was delayed due to the inability of companies to trust work-from-home female employees to maintain high productivity.

The reality is that women working from home can be more productive in some tasks such as accounting, scheduling and responding to customers’ inquiries, she said.

The spokesman for the Productive Families Program, Bassam Fatini, added the delay is simply due to the council taking a gradual approach to implementing decisions.

There should be a compact system and functional procedures and committees in place regarding home employment before the decision is made official, he said.

The ultimate goal of the council is to protect the employee from bad employers, he said.

Businessman Naif Al-Shamary said he had a positive experience when he hired a female employee to work from home.

He said the employee had high productivity and he fully supported the idea of women working from home.

 
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