Flexibility News

The latest about the world of flexible work

Partners in same profession have worse work-life balance

13.01.2012

Is this a warning against meeting your life partner at work? A study of over 600 academics has found that partners who work in the same field are more likely to work long hours and bring their work home with them.

Read the Daily Telegraph report at www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9007209/Partners-in-same-professions-have-worse-work-life-balance.html

Touch-down offices at UK rail stations

Network Rail, the company that runs the UK's railway stations and track, has signed an agreement with the Office Group to provide drop-in offices at 5 railway stations in London.

The initiative is a response to the growing trend of mobile working, and a way to make railway stations a destination in themselves. Work hubs in transport hubs - a perfect match, perhaps.

David Biggs, Network Rail Director of Property, said: “The network of drop-in office space created through this innovative joint venture will provide a new and convenient service at stations. Passengers are already able to eat, drink and shop at our stations, so it was only logical that we offered them the opportunity to work here too.”

Further details at www.networkrail.co.uk/drop-in-work-space.aspx

Denmark top for Work-Life Balance - OECD

Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands top the world Work-Life Balance rankings, according to monitoring by the OECD

And the UK is down at 17th, with the USA 23rd.  The figures are based on three key indicators: the employment rate of women with children; employees working long hours; time devoted to leisure and personal care.

Some useful statistics, but with conclusions like this it seems the analysis is a bit on the rudimentary side:

"In the United States, 73% of mothers are employed after their children begin school; this figure is higher than the OECD average of 66% and suggests that mothers are able to successfully balance family and career."

See more at http://bli.oecdcode.org/topics/work-life-balance/

Volkswagen blocks after hours emails
to promote work-life balance

55% say home is more productive than the office - and the
best place for new ideas is a pub or restaurant

A clear majority of workers associate flexible working with being more productive.  In a survey of nearly 2000 office workers by ICT services company 2e2, 63% felt they would be more productive if they could have more flexible working hours, while 53% feel more productive working from home.

Asked about the best place to have the best ideas, over three quarters felt it was not an office meeting room, and 47% said the best ideas come in a pub or restaurant.

And problems with commuting cost employers £1.21 billion in lost productivity and further lost productivity from associated stress of £1.03 billion per year.

More details at HR Magazine

More Australians want to work forever, probably part-time

Reflecting trends elsewhere in the developed world, increasing numbers of Australians over 45 want to keep on working - and maybe never retire.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statics show 13 per cent of workers aged 45 years or over, or 653,800 people, never intend to retire. It is a 72 per cent increase from four years ago, when 379,300 people had no intention of retiring.

And 41% of intend to move to part-time working before they retire.

For more, see the Australian Bureau of Statistics media release.

Smart Work Handbook - Going like hot cakes

The Smart Working Handbook published by Flexibility.co.uk is downloading like hot cakes (if such is possible!).

We've had over 1000 downloads since the end of the summer, as the Handbook goes viral.

This includes a recommendation in a newsletter from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), Europe's largest HR and development professional body.

And the feedback so far has been excellent - people saying it's just what they've been looking for.