Co-op advances homeworking

In the first deal of its kind, the Co-operative Bank has signed a best practice agreement with the Banking, Insurance & Finance Union (Bifu) to ensure homeworking staff enjoy terms and conditions comparable to those of office-based colleagues.

A year-long pilot involving six staff from the bank's personal collections department has been extended to a full-scale teleworking strategy which will increase the number of homeworking staff employed by the bank to 32.

Employees working from home will be supplied with PCs, modems, telephones and fax machines which will be linked to the bank's main system. 'The pilot proved it could work, so we are now going for a full working model,' said spokesman Chris Smith.

The Co-op is the latest company to join the small but growing band of UK businesses to experiment with the concept of home working, as a means to cut costs and retain a competitive edge over rivals.

Smith said it was not a 'de-labouring exercise' but one that added to the quality of life of the employee. 'Output actually improves when individuals are in an environment that they feel comfortable in,' he said, 'but it obviously won't suit everyone.'

Of the six staff who took part in the pilot, one left the company and two requested a return to the office as they missed the 'buzz of the place', said Smith. The bank said it was looking at other departments which might benefit from home teleworking.

Alan Denbigh, executive director of the Telework, Telecottage & Telecentre Association, said the deal marked a 'shift in attitude' for the banking union, which had previously taken a 'publicly cautious stance toward teleworking'.