Working From Home · Employees vs Employers
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 292 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
Working from home has become much more common since the pandemic. Who benefits more from this arrangement — employees or employers? Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Take a clear side in the introduction and defend it consistently
- 02Devote one body paragraph to employee benefits and one to employer benefits
- 03Use evidence or references where possible (e.g., the Stanford remote-work study)
- 04Acknowledge the opposing side fairly before weighing the overall balance
- 05Use measured language: 'on balance', 'partially undermined', 'tangible benefits'
- 06Round off with a conclusion that restates and slightly extends your position
Model answer
292 words in 5 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced offices to close, remote work has become a permanent feature of many industries. While both sides of the employment relationship gain something from this arrangement, I believe that, on balance, employees benefit more than their employers.
For workers, the most obvious advantage is the elimination of the daily commute, which in many cities can absorb two hours or more of unpaid time every day. This time can be reinvested in family, exercise, or rest, all of which contribute to better mental and physical health. In addition, working from home offers far greater flexibility over when and how tasks are completed. A parent can collect a child from school without taking annual leave, and someone with a medical appointment no longer has to negotiate awkwardly with a manager. Financial savings on transport, lunches, and professional clothing further improve quality of life, especially for those on lower salaries.
Employers, of course, also gain. They can dramatically reduce property costs by downsizing office space, and they can recruit from a wider geographical pool, which often means better talent. Some studies, including a well-known Stanford report on Chinese call-centre staff, have shown modest productivity gains among remote teams. However, these benefits are often offset by new challenges: communication can become fragmented, the training of junior employees suffers without in-person mentorship, and managers report greater difficulty in fostering company culture remotely.
In my view, the gains for employees — better health, more time, lower costs — are tangible, personal, and immediate. The gains for employers, while real, are partially undermined by managerial complications and may even be temporary as office leases expire and workplace norms reset.
In conclusion, although both parties benefit from remote working, the advantages weigh more heavily in favour of employees.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
1 more than the median answer for this task type
5 words at the shortest, 32 at the longest
3 more than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 20.9 words and vary by 6.3 words either side of that, running from 5 words to 32. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 7 of the 14 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
9 in total, spread across 5 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
although, however, while
in addition
since
in conclusion, on balance
of course
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 85 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 74 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 3 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Answer the question directly with a clear judgement and balanced reasoning.
Coherence & Cohesion
Structure the essay so each paragraph compares one stakeholder before reaching a conclusion.
Lexical Resource
Use accurate workplace and economic vocabulary with appropriate collocations.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use a range of complex structures, including comparatives and concessive clauses, accurately.
You have read one model answer. Now get one marked.
Paste your own attempt at this question and get a band for each criterion, with the exact sentences costing you marks.
Score my answer