Just as Britain led the way with industrialisation in the 19th century, the country is looking to lead the world in changing the work culture in the 21st. An initiative which aims to make the UK the most progressive economy in the world was launched in early May:
The savings will not only be in time but also in cash: apart from the transport costs there is the cappuccino and Danish on the way to the office, lunch in the pub and, for some, congestion charges and parking. A typical train commuter could save £12 a day (£5 on the train journey, £2 on coffee and snack, and £5 on lunch) and a typical road commuter £14 / day (average 17 miles @ 40p / mile, £2 coffee and snack and £5 lunch) or £30 / day in London if the £8 congestion charge and £8 parking fee are included. Potential savings could be between £1,152 and £2,880 / year.
This is not all - road congestion costs the UK economy some £20bn / year. If there is a reasonable take-up of smarter working, it is predicted that £1.9bn / year will be saved within five years. There is a knock-on effect here too, as the environment could be helped through reduced emission of 'greenhouses' gas (CO2) which is the main cause of global warming.
These are just a few reasons for the new initiative. Called Work Wise UK, the initiative will encourage the widespread adoption of smarter working practices, such as flexible working, remote working, mobile working and working from home. Adopting this modern day approach to working lives will increase business productivity and competitiveness, reduce transport congestion and pollution, improve health, assist disadvantaged groups, and harmonise our work and family commitments.
Meg Munn MP, DTI Minister for Women and Equality, said: "Smarter working should be integral in a modern economy. It increases productivity, competitiveness and helps our economy perform better in the global marketplace. It also helps people - it enables us to lead more fulfilled lives - having greater choice about how we balance our work with our family commitments. These flexible work practices benefit us all."
An increasingly complex world means that employers and employees have to strive to use their resources effectively; the one to gain better productivity, the other to balance work-life pressures.
Benefits for companies and staff:
CBI Director-General, Sir Digby Jones, who spoke at the Work Wise summit, said: "Flexible, smarter working is here to stay. Nine out of ten requests from staff to work flexibly have been accepted by employers and the UK leads the rest of Europe in numbers of part-time workers. New technologies will help more people in the future to 'telework' from home or on the move.
"These new ways of working have benefits for companies seeking to recruit, motivate and retain valued staff and for employees who have hectic or demanding lives. More flexible working benefits the economy through higher productivity and reduced transport pressure.
"The challenge for us all is to strike the right balance - both in and outside of work - and achieve the maximum flexibility whilst still meeting the needs of our businesses and customers."
It is recognised that the UK workforce is now among the hardest working in the world, an amazing transformation since the 1970s when the country was viewed as the "sick man of Europe". Today, this work ethic results in the UK average working week being among the longest in Europe.
May help cut long hours too:
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, also speaking at the summit, was keen to see working hours reduced through smarter working: "Our long hours culture is damaging the UK's productivity prospects. British men work the longest hours in Europe and this isn't helping their firms become more productive, nor is it good for the health of these long hours employees or the happiness of their families. The attitude of employers is the biggest barrier we face to a better work/life balance. Unfortunately too few employers have yet to grasp the concept that flexible working not only makes for sound business sense but is also good news for overworked individuals.
"With statistics showing that only one in seven UK employees is able to work from home occasionally and just one in ten is allowed to work flexibly, we still have a long, long way to go before a decent work/life balance can be achieved by everyone at work. Those employers who have been bold enough to embrace flexibility are more likely to recruit and retain staff and are less likely to suffer from high levels of staff absence. A more flexible approach to work is the direction in which we want to be going and I call on the UK's employers to work with unions and the Government to make Britain a better, more productive place to work."
The advantages of an improved work-life balance are well-documented, and although the UK is embracing smarter working practices, there is a huge scope for improvement. Currently, there are 5.4m employees who work through some kind of flexible working agreement, of which 2.2m are men and 3.2m are women (Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005). Of these totals, 3.3m work from home in some form (LFS Microdata Service).
"Work Wise UK will accelerate the change in working practices towards a culture that helps balance work and life commitments," said Phil Flaxton, chief executive of the IT Forum Foundation, the organiser of Work Wise UK, which was established in 1983 as a not-for-profit undertaking.
"Work Wise UK is about changing working culture for the better, changing the way people work, giving them the skills to work smarter, to work more efficiently," he said.
Meg Munn MP continued: "We've seen evidence that flexible working is making a difference to people's lives. But to really change the way we work and maximise the benefits for everyone, we need to encourage the widespread adoption of smarter working practices."
More about Work Wise UK:
The start of Work Wise UK involved a period of discussions and planning, led by the CBI and TUC, on how to deliver the vision of up to half the working population working smarter by the end of the decade. This consultation will culminate with the publication of a concordat - a document with across-the-board support which details the vision and how it will be achieved.
Work Wise Week in May marked the start of the three-year Work Wise UK programme during which it is hoped many thousands of companies and organisations will sign-up to the concordat and implement smarter working practices to the benefit of their business, their employees, and the country as a whole.