As any fule know, the huge upsurge in the practice is down chiefly to the spread of residential broadband connections, which make working from home easily as efficient as toiling in the office.

That was something that was confirmed yesterday by a survey from UK broadband provider Orange. The study found that a quarter of the two-thirds of the companies who participate in home working schemes even go so far as to provide a broadband connection.

But it’s not all good news. If Orange’s poll is to be believed, it seems that men are twice as likely to be given access to such technology as women. How disappointing. Even as super fast broadband connections are mapping out bold new technological vistas in 2009, in some workplaces at least it seems we’re still in the stone age.