Smarter Working

What is smart and flexible working?

‘Smarter’ or ‘flexible’ working can take a number of forms, some very simple, with few cost implications, through to full organisation-wide workflow reviews. It can apply to any business or organisation, from large multinational companies and the public sector right down to small business and the self-employed.

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How smart and flexible working can help your business

You've heard about flexible working but you're not sure whether it is right for your business, and you don't know which scheme would be best for you.

Business Link has designed a tool which asks you a series of simple questions about your business. On completion you will receive a report detailing the flexible working schemes that would best fit your business.

Go to the first question

Happy productive people

Employees working from home
Flexible working needs to suit the individual, your business and your customers. When discussing the options you should consider the nature of the job, as well as the home environment of the individual. Some types of work are particularly suited to home working.

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Avoiding congestion, cutting carbon emissions and costs

Congestion costs the UK economy £20 billion per annum (ref. CBI)

Flexible-working can help the economy and reduce carbon emissions. If staff were allowed to work one day a week from home, that would potentially reduce the number of commuter miles by 20%.

There are a number of schemes that have been set up in order to reduce carbon emissions and congestion:

Affordable and relevant technology

Employees working from home: The cost and availability of broadband and mobile communications means it is much easier and cheaper to keep in touch with your team and customers at anytime and in any location.

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If you would like to see how distributed teams can increase your Profitability? Then book a free Health Check with CAL now: enquiries@computer-assets.co.uk

CAL can help you make the right business decisions so that your investment in your team will really make a difference, to learn more about how CAL can provide the right solution for you, visit: http://www.computer-assets.co.uk/

LiveView Web Office Manager (LiveViewTM Professional and Enterprise Versions) are hosted web services that can handle your administration, sales, document management as well as web diaries and teamwork compliance tasking. The Future Office are offering the standard version for up to 10 team members or associates free-of-charge: http://www.thefutureoffice.com/

Desktop Conferencing
Cisco WebEx Conferencing: www.webex.co.uk
CITRIX GoToMeeting: www.gotomeeting.co.uk

Collaboration Tools
Clearspace: http://www.jivesoftware.com/products/clearspace
Microsoft Office Groove: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/business/products/office-2007/overview.mspx
Microsoft SharePoint Server: http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx

Project Management Tools
Basecamp from 37 signals: www.basecamphq.com
TeamR solution and enterprise studio: http://www.teamr.co.uk

Making it happen

Introducing flexible working need not be difficult, but it is important to plan, implement and monitor its introduction across the business.

Legal

Any employee can request flexible working arrangements but employees with young or disabled children (under six and 18 respectively), and carers of adults, have a specific right to request flexible working, and this must be taken seriously.

Health and safety

Home working health and safety risk assessment
If you use your home as your business workplace, or you allow an employee to work from home, you must carry out a health and safety risk assessment to identify any possible hazards to yourself, workers, visitors and other members of your household.

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Reports and case studies

Why flexible working and family-friendly policies makes good business sense
Don’t just take our word for it – below are a number of studies to demonstrate how smarter and flexible working is beneficial to your business:

  • Business Link - Flexible working case studies from motivating staff to setting up an extranet to improve communications: www.businesslink.gov.uk
  • Workwise is a not-for-profit initiative, which aims to make the UK one of the most progressive economies in the world by encouraging the widespread adoption of smarter working practices. Lots of case studies (ranging from blue chips to nursery schools), stats, reports and resources: www.workwiseuk.org
  • Public sector organisations who have introduced flexible working: www.projectnomad.org.uk

The employee’s perspective

The way we work is changing. Fixed patterns are giving way to flexible employment, with part-time, flexi-time and job sharing all becoming more common.

You will need to make a case to your employer. The below links cover useful information and explain the options available, how to change your hours at work, and how to negotiate that change.