As a second wave of the swine flu pandemic threatens business, small firms are struggling to respond to an increased demand for home working, says research commissioned by on-demand computing firm Star.

Last week’s return to school is raising fears of a second wave of the swine flu pandemic, and is prompting some companies to reconsider how best to combat the impact of high levels of potential employee absenteeism on business productivity.

Ealier this month, a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) warned companies to anticipate absences of up to 50% as a result of new swine flu cases and possible school closures.

But the Star research - based on responses from 130 companies - reveals that small businesses of less than 100 employees are three times less likely to have any home working facilities in place, or plans to add any, when compared to larger companies. Larger firms were far more likely to have systems in place that allowed staff to access applications, documents and files remotely.

The Star survey shows that only 23% of small companies with less than 20 employees are actively considering adding additional remote working facilities, to enable employees - who may need to work from home to care for sick children or to avoid an outbreak of the virus at the office - to remain productive whilst working from home.

The Star report reveals the key barrier to implementing home working has not been price, but the inability of existing company infrastructures to cope with the demands of remote working.

The Star report can be downloaded here