By Sylvia Carr, 5 April 2006 14:50
NEWS
BT is lending its support to an initiative which will promote flexible working.
The telco is the first company to back Work Wise UK, an initiative which will provide businesses and employees with information on maintaining work-life balance.
Work Wise aims to increase the number of people benefiting from 'smarter working' from 3.1 million to 14 million in three years' time, and is organising the Work Wise Week from 3-9 May to promote debate between government, unions and UK businesses on styles of working.
BT leads by example. The company boasts 11,500 employees who work from home and 64,000 who are able to work outside the office as needed. This policy results in cost savings through high worker retention and low absenteeism rates, according to the telco.
But not all managers are so keen on telecommuting. A recent survey sponsored by telecoms equipment-maker Mitel showed that nearly half of managers who don't allow teleworking forbid it because it's difficult to know what employees are doing.
Of the 200 executives surveyed, a third said teleworkers are less likely to be promoted than office workers and roughly the same number believe teleworkers don't work as hard a their desk-bound colleagues.
Employees appear keen on flexible working, though, as one in three businesses surveyed which did allow teleworking said they did so because of employee demand.
What do you think of flexible working? Weigh in on this and other key workplace issues in our 2006 Skills Survey.
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard
Flexible times to meet customers' needs?
"BT... will promote flexible working."
It would be nice if BT staff adapted their working times to meet their customers' needs: At last an end to fruitless days waiting for their staff to visit.
2. anonymous
I think proof is preceded in this case. BT, who boast the highest proportion of home workers, is also one of the most inefficient, fragmented and poorly managed companies to grace the UK. Whilst teh Board desparately try to find a product with which to make some profit, the various departments continue to work ineffectively, causing havoc amongst all other Internet and telephony providers. Go BT!
3. Dimitri
It's sad that in 2006 there are still managers who worry about 'knowing what empoyees are doing' and even worse to say that teleworkers work less hard than office workers.
Teleworkers often start work at 8 am compared to 9 or even 9.30 for office workers. They often carry on till 7 since they don't have to travel.
And like all workers they complete tasks assigned by managers in the time instructed.
Managers who need to know what workers are doing, clearly don't know how to do their jobs.