As the latest heavy snowfall hits the UK leaving many workers stranded at home, one Midlands company works on.

The firm is Word Association, a successful PR and communications consultancy with home workers based across the East and West Midlands, including Hinckley, Leicestershire. It is one of the country's few medium sized businesses with no central office base.  

Established two decades ago, and based in Burbage, Leicestershire, the company has 13 staff scattered in cities, towns and rural villages miles apart who are in constant touch via instant messaging, email, telephone and regular face-to-face meetings.

Staff don't have to de-ice their cars in the morning, fill up their tank with petrol for a lengthy commute or rely on public transport to get into work.  And the firm has relatively low overheads as it does not have to meet the costs of running an office.

Chief executive Mark Thomas said: "Word Association is open for business whatever the weather and that's something our clients appreciate. It's 10 years now since we made the switch from an office to home working and we've never looked back. Staff numbers and turnover have doubled in that time and we have high levels of productivity and staff satisfaction and very low levels of absenteeism.

"It's also a way of working which keeps our overheads low enabling us to offer our clients more for less.  In the current economic times we think that more companies should be looking at our business model.

Anecdotal evidence reveals one in 10 staff don't make it into work as a result of snow and the Federation of Small Businesses puts the cost on the economy at £600m a day (source: BBC News Magazine).

Home working is becoming increasingly popular as it lowers overheads, banishes the commute and encourages a work life balance.  Another benefit is that home workers do not have to battle snow or ice to reach the office and will never have cause to take the day off due to bad weather.