Campaign highlights technology's role in flexible working

The Work Wise UK initiative aims to encourage wider adoption of mobile working facilities

IT chiefs are being urged to increase investment in technologies for enabling flexible working practices, after a new government-backed campaign was launched this week to encourage more employers to support mobile and home working.

The Work Wise UK initiative has been organised by the IT Forum Foundation and has received vocal support from the DTI, the CBI and the TUC, which all argued that flexible working can help improve firms' productivity, deliver better work-life balance for staff and reduce environmental damage caused by people commuting to work.

According to a recent government survey, 3.1 million workers are currently offered some form of flexible working, but this represents just over a tenth of the workforce and Work Wise UK has set itself the ambitious target of seeing half the workforce working flexibly within the next five years.

Speaking at the campaign's launch, CBI director general Digby Jones said new technologies - such as laptops, smartphones, ubiquitous broadband, and hot desks at satellite offices - have a key role to play in enabling flexible working. " New technologies will help more people in the future to 'telework' from home or on the move," he added. "These new ways of working have benefits for companies seeking to recruit, motivate and retain valued staff."

However, experts warned that firms looking to take advantage of remote working need to make changes to their IT infrastructure and management processes in order to realise these benefits.

Richard Jackson, UK managing director of access management software specialist Citrix, welcomed the campaign but cautioned that mobile workforces need to be managed effectively to avoid creating an "always on" culture, where increased connectivity means employees’ work-life balance actually deteriorates.

Jackson added that firms providing staff with mobile devices must also invest in management software that can effectively control and monitor remote access and ensure corporate data remains secure.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive of the IT Forum Foundation, agreed firms looking to enable flexible working need to make such investments, but argued that initial spending can deliver significant long-term cost savings as remote workforces lead to reduced real-estate costs and higher staff productivity.

He added that best-practice guidelines for flexible working are available from the Work Wise website and outlined plans to launch a quality mark, similar to the government's Investors in People initiative, which firms that support flexible working will be able to sign up to.