Business briefing: Flexible Working

ATTRACT THE BEST

The potential to work flexible hours is fast becoming number one on employees’ wish lists. And now, thanks to some cost-effective solutions from BT, companies can offer their staff the benefits of a healthy balance between their work and personal lives. It’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s true: a company’s greatest asset is its staff. The calibre of people a company is able to recruit, and the particular skill set they contribute, can have a huge impact on performance. And whether it’s down to pursuing outside interests, spending more time looking after children or cutting commuting time, working flexible hours can act as a powerful incentive to a prospective employee.

A Department of Trade and Industry survey of jobseekers found that 46 per cent chose flexible working as the benefit they would seek most in their next job. The survey also detailed the many potential benefits to companies (see box).

Take the example of James Rothwell &Son. This £3.5m independent mushroom growing business has some 150 employees. In the six months since adopting flexible working hours for staff, the company has seen improvements in productivity, cut overtime costs by a quarter and almost halved staff turnover and absence rates. Many companies shy away from implementing flexible working practices because they perceive the costs to be prohibitive. However, technology offers a number of solutions that enable employees to work securely from a remote site, be it home or elsewhere. And it can turn out to be extremely cost effective, offering significant long-term savings.

BT has the necessary tools to make flexible or remote working a reality, with BT Broadband giving remote workers a strong foundation. BT Broadband Teleworker is a service that helps your staff work flexibly. Combined with high-speed BT Business Broadband access, Teleworker can help to save you precious time and money, connecting remote workers, branch office staff and customers using the latest Virtual Private Network security technology. This allows staff to access business information securely wherever they are and whenever they need it. BT Business Broadband also comes with a first-class network firewall, and anti-virus and anti-spam software.

There are several value-for-money solutions available from BT, such BT Airtalk, a digital cordless phone system that offers all the advantages and call quality of a fixed line. BT SmartNumbers and Teamphone provide a single number to connect individuals or teams, and unified messaging in a single mailbox for voice, fax and email, ideal for people working on the move or in dispersed locations. And Nortel Integrated DECT offers enhanced cordless telephony for greater mobility within an office site. With technologies like these, companies now have all the tools they need to liberate their staff to work more flexibly, and gain the work-life balance they desire.

Good for business

Flexible working is not just about keeping your staff happy, your company will benefit too. You can:

• Increase competitiveness and productivity
• Reduce rental space and the associated costs
• Bring greater ability to meet customer demand
• Enable operations in global time zones
• Reduce staff turnover
• Attract quality individuals from a larger labour pool
• Meet the legislative requirements laid down by the DTI

More info can be found at:
http://www.convergentsolutions.bt.com/ict
http://www.btbroadbandoffice.com/broadband