But new research suggests it may not be as idyllic as it sounds.

Fresh analysis of data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, published in the Australian Journal of Labour Economics, has linked working from home with lower pay, a tendency to work longer hours and an intrusion of work life into home life.

The analysis by Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre associate professor Michael Dockery and Dr Sherry Bawa found some employees who permanently work from home enjoy higher job satisfaction, but for others it ends up leading to longer days and discontentment.

Far from the image of a couch potato, lounging in track pants and taking naps, the analysis of HILDA data found people who did some work from home typically did longer hours.

"When you work long hours, the likelihood of working from home really goes up," Dr Dockery says.

"Working from home can be a good thing, but it's a double-edged sword... there are negative effects that not everyone takes into account."

The analysis of HILDA data also found that - despite what many may believe is a trend the other way - fewer Australians were working from home now compared to a decade ago. This is despite flexible work being considered a desirable workplace feature.

The number of people working from home for less than eight hours per week has declined by 2 per cent in the past decade to 16 per cent of employees, with only 6 per cent of employees spend more than eight hours a week working from home. Men and women worked from home in equal proportions.

The analysis also found people earned around $1 less for hours worked at home, compared to in the office.

Australian Institute of Management (AIM) executive general manager Tony Gleeson worked from home for six months while in a different job and said he became disconnected from the "wider world".

"You end up having to create human contact for yourself," he said. "I ended up scheduling meetings at the office just to see people and create connections."

Mr Gleeson had been working for Deloitte, setting up its Asia Pacific working and development centre, and worked from home because his colleagues were located in Hong Kong, the United States and the Philippines.

"What a lot of employees end up missing out on is the social connection with other employees in the office. You don't get to celebrate successes or help people through failures," he said.

"There can also be a mindset in workplaces that people who work from home are slacking off."

Behavioural scientist and AIM head of research and thought leadership, Malcolm Johnson, said employers needed to be aware of the extra hours worked by people at home, or risk staff burning out.

"There are lots of benefits in flexible working, but employers need to be aware of how much their employees are working," he said.

"There need to be more formal check-ins to see how they're tracking."

The research showed that factors including age, length of time in the job and industry influenced how likely a person was to work from home.

The longer a person's tenure at a business, the more likely they were to work from home, and women were more likely to work at home if they had a child between five and 14.

In terms of sectors, education and training employees did the most work from home, while clerical and admin workers were most likely to be confined to the office.

Females working in education and training were eight times as likely as professionals to work from home, while males were 10 times more likely.

Agricultural, forestry and fishing came in second, with these workers approximately 4.5 times as likely as professionals to work from home.

Mr Dockery said in some cases working from home could be beneficial for employees.

"As a rational economist, I accept that people aren't stupid and know what's best for them," he said. "But speaking from personal experience, I've worked from home and it lets me drop the kids at school, but it's very frustrating for the family. I get frustrated because I'm trying to work, but the kids get annoyed because I'm at home and can't just talk to them."

In order to maximise the potential benefits of working from home (such as higher productivity and better work-life balance), there are steps employers and employees need to take.

Chief executive of global workplace provider Regus Australia and New Zealand, Paul Migliorini, said businesses need to have the right systems in place to manage home workers.

"Working from home isn't a good primary place, but you can work flexibly," he said.

Mr Migliorini said allowing staff to work from home, or wherever suited them best, a few days a week led to a better level of engagement from staff.

"As long as they were delivering a result it was a win win for everyone."