The
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says that
more organisations should adopt flexible working, to
improve performance, benefit their employees, reduce
their carbon footprint and tackle congestion. And
government should do more to roll out the
infrastructure to make remote working possible.
According to the new report, Tackling
Congestion, Driving Growth, flexible working
is already making an impact on the roads. Over the
past five years the average number of commute trips
per person has been falling, mirroring a rise in the
number of employers offering remote working.
89% of employers now offer flexible
working, compared to just 30% in 1999.
Reasons for offering flexible
working
At the
moment, however, according to the CBI’s survey of
businesses, the main reasons for introducing
flexible working in companies is for reasons of
work-life balance and for recruitment and retention.
Improving productivity is some way down the list, as
are reducing costs and reducing carbon footprint.
The findings confirm what we have
said about perceptions of flexible work for some
time now, that it is mostly associated with
work-life balance issues, and that organisations
often fail to grasp the full implications of the
business benefits. All the same, it is
encouraging that around half of employers surveyed
do now cite improving productivity as a motivating
factor.
The low carbon agenda - a joined up
approach needed
The need to reduce carbon footprint
is cited as a reason for introducing flexible
working by only 7% of businesses, which is
disappointing. The CBI is said it is working
with with its member organisations to promote a more
integrated approach around carbon reporting that
will encourage reductions in both business and
commuting travel.
The authors see this integrated
approach as the way forward, but cultural barriers
and inertia stand in the way:
"While each business must do
what is right for it, many firms could gain by
adopting a joined-up approach to their property,
ICT and low-carbon strategies as positive
drivers for change in working patterns.
Lack of awareness of the
benefits may currently be hindering this. Over
20% of firms with a 9-5 working model cited
cultural barriers as their reason for not
changing this. Inertia is also found in the
workforce, with 13% of employees who did not
work from home at all in 2008 saying they could
in fact do some of their work from home."
Government also needs to do its bit,
and the report calls on the government to do much
more in rolling out universal broadband to support
home-based working.
