Smaller UK firms struggling to adopt flexible work strategies
As the term ‘flexible working’ becomes ever more popular, you’d expect to see a huge surge in the adoption of flexible work practices amongst the UK’s small business community. However, despite the fact that there is an overwhelming amount of research which highlights the benefits of flexible and remote working, smaller firms are proving slow to join the revolution.
Studies show that flexible working helps to increase productivity and innovation whilst boosting employee engagement and retention. In contrast to this, new research from O2 highlights how the UK’s current economic climate is preventing the introduction of flexible working practices within SME’s, with 41% of office workers feeling under pressure to be present in the office as a result of economic conditions and 27% of employees also feeling they are being prevented from flexible working by their line manager.
On the launch of a new service aimed at promoting flexible working within UK small businesses, David Plumb, O2’s General Manager for Enterprise, said: “For growing numbers of employees, work is something they do rather than a place they go. For businesses, meeting these expectations can be a challenge but getting it right can increase productivity, harness innovation, reduce cost and provide employees with a better work/life balance.”
Unified communications is more commonly seen as an integral part of the ‘new way of working’. Despite the tough economic conditions, there are still many UK small businesses who are realising the true value of being able to collaborate anytime, anywhere. By giving staff the ability to work flexibly and remotely, these businesses are seeing an increase in productivity which is ultimately boosting the bottom line.
Video conferencing could be a key part of your unif
ied communications strategy and could help keep your team stay connected whilst they are working remotely. Desktop video conferencing is now more affordable and easier to deploy than ever. With networks becoming better, the quality of the experience is also more superior than you’d ever imagine. Cisco TelePresence Movi is the next generation PC-based video communications experience that can be installed on your own laptop to enable you to connect face-to-face with colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers in high definition.
So maybe it’s time to implement flexible and remote working in your business? And with unified communications and video conferencing in place you can always catch up with with your peers as if you were actually in the office!
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By Trademark Infringement at 7:23 am on Dec 2, 2011