The traditional 'office' is heading for a workplace revolution. Century-old established, outdated working cultures and traditions need to break down. They are wasteful in terms of resources and time, damaging in terms of the environment and global warming, unhealthy in terms of worker wellbeing, and frustrating in terms of traffic congestion and public transport overcrowding.
Research shows that the structure of the labour market is going to be reshaped dramatically over the four years, with remote working expected to almost double. There are already around 3.1 million people working from home in the UK and this is expected to double by 2012! The recent emergence of 'virtual jobs' and 'virtual communities' is changing the way companies attract and retain skilled employees.
Adopting a modern day approach to our working lives will increase business productivity and competitiveness, reduce transport congestion and pollution, reduce stress, assist disadvantaged groups and harmonise our work and family commitments. In addition, remote working gives employers the added advantage of recruiting talented individuals from anywhere in the country instead of just around their local office.
A flexible or remote working policy may enable you and your company to retain valued staff by offering them choices to suit their lifestyle demands. Remote employment is a strategy for better management of your workforce. Flexible working is a cultural shift for many organisations and it is best to use the following table as a productive start:
- Raise awareness with all staff
- Establish key needs
- Define targets
- Determine costs and benefits
- Define priorities
- Set an action plan
- Review
Remote working gives employers the added advantage of recruiting talented individuals from anywhere in the country instead of just around their local office.
Remote Employment, a web service dedicated to flexible and home based recruitment, invites companies across the UK to support National Work from Home, by giving their employees the opportunity to work flexible hours or work from home. Founder and Managing Director, Ken Sheridan believes a flexible employment solution benefits business, employees, and the country as a whole.
For more information on Remote Employment's modern recruitment solutions, contact Ken Sheridan on ken@remoteemployment.com.
15 May 2008
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How to set up a home office ...
Before you set up a work station at home, check out our Seven Top Tips on how to work from home:
Your Home Office
Ideally, you will have a spare room to create a home office. If not, a corner of another room, will be fine as long as you are not constantly distracted in the family fast lane. Set up your kitSet up your computer, files and phone to give you maximum comfort for long hours. Have enough plug points for PC, printer, phone, scanner, mobile charger, fax machine and answer phone. Even better get an all in once mod con to save on a jumble of cables and wires.
Pick your desk location
You should be able to see the door of the office from where you are sitting or at least more of your surroundings. Beware of facing the garden and the bird bath – too tempting to watch the world go by! A hard chair will give you backache so spend a little extra on a good one.
Working Hours
Working outside 'normal' working hours helps to balance your work and home life so don't feel guilty dashing off to take the lads to footie after school, as long as you get your work done. Catching up in the early morning or later in the evening works well, but also watch out for going OTT. Make sure you close down and walk away at some point or the family will go hungry.
Have a breather
No matter what kind of work you do or what home you do it in, you can go bonkers if you spend 24 hours a day at it. Get out, whenever you can, to clear your head and to see other people. Use lunch time as a good break to pop down to pick up groceries for dinner, step outside to feed the birds during your coffee break or walk the dog around the block to clear the cobwebs. This is also a great way to mull over a document or get inspiration for new ideas.
Keep in Touch
Have no fear that your social life at work comes to an end if you leave your office to work from home, in fact in some cases your relationship with your colleagues may improve. Email is instant but be careful of 'funnies' – they can eat up a huge chunk of time. Chat through business issues by phone and meet for a quick bite every now and then.
Goal scoring
Give yourself little goals and objectives and then reward yourself when they are complete. Make sure family and friends know your hours or days of working at home and stick to that. Don't be tempted to pop over for a coffee or cook a large meal. Give yourself this time as a reward for getting up early on a Monday to finish a long-winded report. Or if you score well with a new client take five to put your feet up before the school run. Whatever incentives work for you, use them to motivate yourself to balance your time around your other responsibilities.
If you have any suggestions on working from home, please submit your articles to grace@remoteemployment.com.
Your Home Office
Ideally, you will have a spare room to create a home office. If not, a corner of another room, will be fine as long as you are not constantly distracted in the family fast lane. Set up your kitSet up your computer, files and phone to give you maximum comfort for long hours. Have enough plug points for PC, printer, phone, scanner, mobile charger, fax machine and answer phone. Even better get an all in once mod con to save on a jumble of cables and wires.
Pick your desk location
You should be able to see the door of the office from where you are sitting or at least more of your surroundings. Beware of facing the garden and the bird bath – too tempting to watch the world go by! A hard chair will give you backache so spend a little extra on a good one.
Working Hours
Working outside 'normal' working hours helps to balance your work and home life so don't feel guilty dashing off to take the lads to footie after school, as long as you get your work done. Catching up in the early morning or later in the evening works well, but also watch out for going OTT. Make sure you close down and walk away at some point or the family will go hungry.
Have a breather
No matter what kind of work you do or what home you do it in, you can go bonkers if you spend 24 hours a day at it. Get out, whenever you can, to clear your head and to see other people. Use lunch time as a good break to pop down to pick up groceries for dinner, step outside to feed the birds during your coffee break or walk the dog around the block to clear the cobwebs. This is also a great way to mull over a document or get inspiration for new ideas.
Keep in Touch
Have no fear that your social life at work comes to an end if you leave your office to work from home, in fact in some cases your relationship with your colleagues may improve. Email is instant but be careful of 'funnies' – they can eat up a huge chunk of time. Chat through business issues by phone and meet for a quick bite every now and then.
Goal scoring
Give yourself little goals and objectives and then reward yourself when they are complete. Make sure family and friends know your hours or days of working at home and stick to that. Don't be tempted to pop over for a coffee or cook a large meal. Give yourself this time as a reward for getting up early on a Monday to finish a long-winded report. Or if you score well with a new client take five to put your feet up before the school run. Whatever incentives work for you, use them to motivate yourself to balance your time around your other responsibilities.
If you have any suggestions on working from home, please submit your articles to grace@remoteemployment.com.
Remote Work
Remote Employment is a brand new online recruitment site specialising in remote working and home based appointments, professional jobs working from home, home based career opportunities, high quality office-home job combinations and flexible work positions that can be effectively managed away from the office.
Register to find professional, jobs working from home and self employed home based business opportunities. Search to find Candidates, Freelancers, Consultants and creative projects.
Register to find professional, jobs working from home and self employed home based business opportunities. Search to find Candidates, Freelancers, Consultants and creative projects.
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