Maintaining a good level of discipline could be the key to working from home on a successful basis, it has been suggested.

Writing for Fast Company, Kevin Purdy noted that while it may not initially seem important to carry out the old routine that was required for working in an office, many home workers come to regret not keeping up these things in the long-run.

Dressing respectively, for example, and shaving or applying make-up, may all seem like unnecessary time-wasters when you first start to work from home. But a few months in, when you're lazing on the couch in your underwear at midday and struggling to get that report finished while watching the television, you may well come to regret your lack of personal discipline.

Mr Purdy also noted the social change that comes from not working out of an office. There is a tendency to rely heavily on social networking sites to replace the chat that previously took place between colleagues.

However, many home workers speak highly of their increased productivity when working from home thanks to the lack of distractions, so remember this once you're settled into a routine and try to keep Facebook and Twitter time to a minimum.