More Brits Choose Flexible Working
14 February 2007
Flexible working is now at the heart of the UK’s business agenda, following a recent pledge signed by leading organisations such as the CBI and TUC, to promote smarter working practices nationwide. With increasing numbers of people now working from home at least one day out of five, RecruitmentTraining.co.uk’s Mike Walmsley suggests that a radical shift in employer thinking could lead to even greater benefits for the local workforce.
Rapid improvements in technology, combined with the ‘war for talent’, mean that forward-thinking employers no longer limit their search for the very best employees to the areas surrounding their office. The recent flexible working pledge builds on this climate to encourage more employers to enable staff to work alternative hours, outside of the office environment.
“Despite recent developments, the office is not quite dead,” comments Mike Walmsley, Chairman of RecruitmentTraining.co.uk. “However, the advent of Virtual Private Networks – enabling workers to access the office database from their home PC – is enabling more and more employers to expand nationally without the associated cost. We’ve successfully pioneered this model throughout our organisation by setting up some of our very best salespeople to work from home. In fact, we are now recruiting in every town and city in the UK!”
Taking place at the end of January, the flexible working pledge supports non-profit organisation Work Wise UK’s campaign to promote a “workplace revolution” through smarter working practices. According to the organisation, the predicted shift in the workplace will improve employees’ work-life balance, reduce pollution, cut stress from traveling times and improve overall employee productivity.
