18 June 2010

Do you employ remote or home workers?

Remote Employment and BT Business have launched a national search to find the UK’s most innovative business that runs a remote workforce for The Remote Employer Award sponsored by BlackBerry®. This award is aimed at identifying and honouring budding enterprises that can  demonstrate how remote working has made a beneficial impact on their business.

Award winning website, Remote Employment, the No 1 job site for flexible and home based jobs, launched The Remote Worker Awards in association with BT Business to highlight how home working and remote working benefits the British public and their working life. The Awards are the only business awards to recognise employers for their flexible working solutions and employees for showing that remote working can improve business productivity, improve work life balance and help the environment.

Last year’s winners, Cuddledry, used remote working to the advantage of all, demonstrating that home businesses can significantly exceed financial projections. Winning the Award has been a fantastic boost to the Cuddledry brand and a hugely flattering acknowledgment of the company’s commitment to flexible and rewarding working practices.

Ken Sheridan, organiser of the awards and co-founder of Remote Employment, a job site specialising in flexible, remote and home working, expects to unearth an abundance of inventive pioneers who champion flexibility with remote working solutions. Ken said: “Remote working is the future! We've discovered that employees and employers are seeking far more flexibility.”

There are many reasons why remote working is idea for employees and some companies find it most beneficial to bring quality people back into the workforce who, for their own reasons (including juggling a career and family life), no longer wish to commute or work in an office environment.

This year’s winner will be awarded with a fully installed BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express solution and three BlackBerry® smartphones with complimentary data connection for the first 6 months thanks to BT. BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express enables businesses with an existing Microsoft® Exchange Server® or Windows® Small Business Server to quickly and easily get started with the BlackBerry solution so that mobile employees can access all the information they need when on the move.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express lets users:

  • Wirelessly synchronize their email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks
  • Manage email folders and search email on the mail server remotely
  • Book meetings and appointments, check availability and forward calendar attachments
  • Set an out-of-office reply
  • Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files using Documents To Go®
  • Access files stored on the company network
  • Use mobile applications to access business systems behind the firewall

The Remote Worker Awards is open to all individuals and any company in the UK, regardless of size, industry sector or turnover. The Award is also open to companies planning to implement a remote workforce.

Entries now open at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

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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.

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.

Do you want to work remotely