‘Rottweiler Apprentice’ Jumps At Awards

Following a highly successful inaugural awards in 2009, Remote Employment in association with BT Business, today launches The 2010 Remote Worker Awards. The Remote Worker Awards is delighted to welcome Claire Young from The Apprentice to the prestigious panel of judges.

Claire Young shot to fame in series 4 of the smash hit BBC 1 ´The Apprentice´. She was the no-nonsense sales woman who infuriated, then won over viewers to reach the final - becoming the biggest ever bookies favourite to win in Apprentice history. Nicknamed the ´Rottweiler´ for her ability to go after whatever she wants; many admired her nonstop drive and were gripped by her transformation throughout the series.

Claire jumped at the chance to judge The Remote Worker Awards for it is unique as the only business awards recognising employers for their flexible working solutions and employees for showing that remote and home based working can improve business productivity, improve work life balance and help the environment.

Claire will help judges Karen Darby, Richard Alvin, Debbie Bird and others to choose companies and individuals who champion this modern way of working from entries across 10 award categories.

Claire said: "I am delighted to be supporting The Remote Worker Awards! I am keen to highlight how remote and home working benefits and gives people a better quality work life."

Post Apprentice life has been a whirlwind as she successfully manages her business and media career. Claire launched a prestigious venue management company, specialising in weddings, called Elegant Venues.

Claire is also all set to give her ‘Rottweileress’ skills to a new passion called Girls Out Loud www.girlsoutloud.org.uk and will become a regular presenter for GMTV. She has become an established public speaker and writing her own book! Claire will be presenting a new business TV show starting Autumn 2010 called The Hirer. She is passionate about working with young people on enterprise and works with a number of Government groups.

Entries now open at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

National Search To Unearth Remote Working Champions

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.

Welsh Woman Learns From Awards

Last year Sharon Bassett, from Pontybodkin in Flintshire, Wales was announced as a runner up in the Remote Worker Awards, in association with BT Business, winning a study voucher worth £500, and with this week’s announcement that the 2010 is now open, Sharon encourages everyone who wants to work from home to enter.

After her win at the Remote Worker Awards, Sharon’s company, Enjoy-a-Ball, was also announced as the winner of a Flintshire Business Award (Women Into Business) and a Home Business Award (Home Office of the Year Award).

This success came as a direct result of entering the Remote Worker Awards. Sharon said: “I had read about the Flintshire Business Awards and the Home Business Awards, but had put the information to one side thinking that a small franchise wouldn’t be the sort of business they were looking for.  However, as soon as I returned from the Remote Worker Awards event, I dug the information out and managed to submit my entry very close to the deadlines.”

The Remote Worker Awards was a real confidence boost, and inspired by her positive experience, and the £500 Open University prize she received, Sharon has also invested further in her ambition to develop her writing skills. Alongside managing an award-winning business, she is now currently studying Creative Writing with The Open University and regularly contributes home business articles to websites.

Award winning website, Remote Employment, Google’s 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.

Entries now open at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

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Enterprising Women Awards 2009!

We are delighted to announce that we have been short listed in the Enterprising Women Awards 2009!

Do you know someone who has overcome significant barriers in their journey towards developing their business?
Please vote for us in the Enterprising Women Awards 2009!

Read Paula Wynne's story and cast your vote in the Enterprising Women's Enterprise Challenge: http://enterprising-women.org/show.php?nav=96

National Hunt for Witches or Wizards

An unexpected role has opened at Remote Employment for Home based Witches and Wizards.

The position is only open to those with suitable experience who are only looking for a one-day career.

You must be the owner of a fully taxed broom (must borrowed from your Mother-In-Law) and you should have the appropriate operator’s license. A state of the art broom, complete with sat nav, breakdown cover and turbo boost, will enhance your prospects of selection for this role.

One of the job requirements will be to wear a uniform, which you are expected to supply. This will be a tall black hat, a long black sweeping cloak and long false nails.

Blackened teeth goes with the job but yellow or hairy ones will be rejected. The successful candidate can be expected to be remunerated with sweets, potions, candle-burnt pumkins and an enviable selection of smoked and dried newt, bat and frog parts.


About you:
* You will preferably have a pointed nose with large warts (and all). Crooked noses and stooped backs also considered.
* Bearded witches preferred, but all shapes and sizes could be ideal applicants.
* You must be able to show previous relevant experience and a portfolio of tried and tested potions.
* Curses accepted, but no cursing.
* Additional languages not essential. However, incomprehensible mumbling would be an advantage.
* A degree in physics, science or chemistry would be preferred by not essential as you could be accepted for a training role in future to help our team of witches and wizards to create home based spells and flexible working concoctions for the business community at large!
* A biology GCSE and a thorough understanding of the anatomy of the frog and bat is nothing but helpful!


Your role will involve whizzing around the Remote World to spread Halloween tricks to a largely unsuspecting audience, young and old. It could help your application if you show initiative and tell us how you would do this.

Period of employment – one night only on the 31st October.

If your night of mystic mayhem is successful you may be recruited full time to spread the magic of remote and home working across the nation, or at least be shortlisted for next year’s Halloween recruitment drive.

Our immediate response is urgently required! Tell us why you would make a great wizard or witch! CVs are unnecessary, just a paragraph about your credentials and excellence for this sought after role. Pictures may help, if you dare!

Get your application in now to avoid disappointment! The best application wins a concoction of wizardry tricks and treats and treats, and vouchers worth £100 from the ‘busy’ Remote Employment Team.

Preston Mum in running for home based franchise award

Sarah Walton, a local Mum, from Preston, Lancs, has been short listed in The Remote Worker Awards in The Helen O’ Grady Special Award and now stands a chance of winning her own home based franchise worth £15k. http://tinyurl.com/r43tv5

Last Chance To Win A Home Business

Time is running out for wannabe home workers across the UK to win thousands of pounds in prizes, from a Spa Break at a von Essen hotel worth £1200, five business start ups with business support packages, to a brand new career worth £3k, a Penthouse Garden Office worth £10k and the flagship prize - a home based franchise worth £15k!

The clock is ticking towards the closing date of the Remote Worker Awards, entries have to be in by the 31st July to win one of these fabulous prizes.

With just one week to go until nominations for the Remote Worker Awards close, Brits can still squeeze in a quick entry and have their achievements recognised.

Entry couldn't be easier, entrants have to simply select a category and answer three simple questions about themselves, their working life and why they should win.

The Remote Worker Awards has been organised by Remote Employment, a job site specialising in flexible, remote and home working. Paula Wynne, founder of Remote Employment said: “It is getting close to the time when we will hand over these incredible prizes and change people’s working lives!”

There are nine Award categories where winners will walk away with £50k in prizes, and these include remote workers, home workers, freelance consultants, people who want to be their own boss, corporate employers with a remote workforce and anyone in need of a new career or profession!

Entrants across the country should get their entries in quick – closing date is 31st July!

For more information call 0844 800 8355 or browse www.remoteworkerawards.com.

Life Changing Competition Gives Away £15K Home Business

Life Changing Competition Gives Away £15K Home Business


The Remote Worker Awards, in association with BT Business, and Helen O’ Grady Drama Academy are giving away a home based business worth £15k!

The Helen O’ Grady Special Award is the flagship Award in The Remote Worker Awards, which aims to raise awareness for remote and home working as the modern way of working.

This 'life changing' competition is open to everyone and so easy to win! Entrants with an interest or an enthusiasm for social interaction and communication with young people have to show how they would combine their love of drama or their experience of teaching children. The best entries will be in the running to win a successful full time business run from their home office.

The Helen O’Grady Drama Academy’s affordable international drama program is already delivered weekly to almost 13,000 children in the UK alone and to many more in twenty five other countries worldwide.

Schools recognise the value of the lessons in increasing children’s confidence, self esteem and skill in verbal communication – vital in the world of technology we live in today. Next term, Helen O’ Grady is introducing both pre-school and adult classes with specially written, age-appropriate curriculum.


MP John Bercow, following his review of the provision for children’s language development in schools said in August 2008: “The ability to communicate is an essential life skill for all children and young people in the 21st century. It is at the core of all social interaction. With strong communication skills, children can engage and thrive. Without them children will struggle to learn, achieve, make friends and interact with the world around them.”

The winner of the The Helen O’ Grady Special Award will become a Helen O’ Grady Principal and receive an exclusive territory to work in. They will also receive comprehensive initial training, regular ongoing support and reassuring financial advice. All for answering a three easy questions and showing why they should win this extraordinary Award.

Margaret Darley from Helen O’ Grady said: “An interest in and an enthusiasm for drama is far more important than formal drama training. With good teaching, smart administration and excellent marketing and promotion, the business potential is endless. Winning this Award will change someone’s life!”

The Remote Worker Awards has eight other categories where winners will walk away with a prestigious trophy and will enjoy up to £50k in prizes, including five business start ups, a Penthouse Garden Office worth £10k and a new career worth £3k!
The Remote Worker Awards has been organised by Remote Employment, a job site specialising in flexible, remote and home working.

For more information or any other enquiry about The Helen O’ Grady Special Award, call 0844 800 8355 or 020 8133 6329 or browse www.remoteworkerawards.com > The Helen O’ Grady Special Award.

Last month to win a new career!

Lots of entries coming in for people who want to win a brand new career. Have you entered yet? See http://TwitPWR.com...less than 5 seconds agoLots of entries coming in for people who want to win a brand new career. Have you entered yet? See http://TwitPWR.com/jA2/ for details!

Last month to win a new career!

Lots of entries coming in for people who want to win a brand new career. Have you entered yet? See http://TwitPWR.com...less than 5 seconds agoLots of entries coming in for people who want to win a brand new career. Have you entered yet? See http://TwitPWR.com/jA2/ for details!

National Call for Home Business Pioneers

Remote Employment and BT Business are on a national hunt to find the most innovative business that demonstrates how remote working and home working has made a beneficial impact on their business and home life for The BT Home Business Award.
The Remote Worker Awards, in association with BT Business, aims to highlight how home working increases business mobilisation.

The Award has already appealed to hundreds of small budding enterprisers as well as larger home based businesses across the country, and now Remote Employment would like to reach out to anyone who hasn’t already entered the awards.

Remote Employment, a job site specialising in remote working and home working positions, has put together a ‘perfect package’ of beneficial business support products and services which includes IT, HR, PR, Legal and marketing advice.

Paula Wynne, organiser of the Awards said: “Many of these services are out of the reach of small businesses as there are always other priorities. Small budgets don’t stretch far, so we have an impressive range of resources that would be extremely beneficial to any small business!”

If you are one of inventive pioneers who champion home working and can show the UK how your work life has benefited from running a home office, the Remote Worker Awards would like to hear from you and give you the chance to win one of the £50k prizes!

The Remote Worker Awards has nine different award categories, including The Remote Employer Award - to celebrate forward thinking employers who allow flexible, remote or home working solutions - all with a selection of the UK’s top sponsors, including BT Business.

For your chance to win one of these fantastic awards, enter at www.remoteworkerawards.

Surrey Entrepreneur Deserves National Recognition

A young entrepreneur, Dean Rhodes-Brandon, who runs his own home business for deaf people called ‘Your Local Cinema’, has entered The Remote Worker Awards and hopes to achieve national recognition if he wins.

Remote Employment, a job site specialising in remote working and home working positions, has launched The Remote Worker Awards in association with BT Business to highlight how home working benefits the British public and their working life.

Dean runs on remote fuel. His whole business is run from a laptop with a mobile broadband USB stick. As Dean is profoundly deaf, and rarely ventures out to meet people face to face, he prefers to correspond almost entirely by email, so being a remote worker suits him perfectly.

Dean’s business, Your Local Cinema, is an information service for people with hearing or sight problems. Winning awards is great for creating awareness for a new business and Dean is hoping a possible win for him will result in local and national media coverage for more people to hear about his service.

Dean has an incredible story about how his own need and desire to watch films blossomed into a budding business, which now serves the needs of thousands of people across the country!

His company 'Your Local Cinema.com' has successfully ensured that the UK now leads the world in the field of cinema access. 'Your Local Cinema .com' is the only cinema listings service of its kind in the world and is sponsored by the UK film industry. The service aims to create awareness of - and increase audience figures for - subtitled and audio described (narrated) cinema releases and shows, for people with hearing or visual problems.

Dean was attracted to The Remote Worker Award Dean because he has never heard about a specific award for remote workers and believes it is great that remote and home workers are now being recognised with this Award.

Being profoundly deaf and having mild cerebral palsy, Dean has overcome adversity to get his business off the ground. He cannot undertake most trades or jobs so he started his business with the aim of persuading the cinema industry to become accessible to people with hearing problems, like himself, and somehow provide on-screen subtitles.
Over the years the industry has spent millions of pounds ensuring that most UK cinemas are now accessible to people like Dean.
Along with a trophy to honour the remote worker of the year, Dean would like to win the fantastic array of prizes to improve his 'home business' as well as the wonderful eco garden office up for grabs in the Vivid Green Award.
Dean works from his garden when the weather is good, his dining table when it's not, his bedroom in the evenings and the library when he is at College. He enjoys the flexibility of working for himself, from wherever he fancies working. Dean is certainly a young man with places to go and films to see. Even though he is at college three days a week, he is clearly not afraid of hard work and long days.
There are nine different award categories in the Remote Worker Awards, which includes a national search to find the most innovative business that demonstrates how remote working and home working has made a beneficial impact on their business and home life. Dean is now in the running to win the The BT Home Business Award.
Paula Wynne, founder of Remote Employment and The Remote Worker Awards, said, "The Home Worker Awards comes at a time when thousands of people across the UK are faced with job losses or reduced hours. The Awards aim to raise awareness of remote and home working as an alternate solution the traditional nine to five office routine. We want to unearth inventive pioneers who champion home working and show the UK why more enterprises should give it a go!"
There are other categories including The Remote Worker Award and The Remote Employer Award.

For your chance to win one of these fantastic awards, enter at www.remoteworkerawards.


Notes:
The Remote Worker Awards will highlight how remote and home working benefits the environment, business productivity and employees' quality of work life.

The Remote Worker Awards will change lives!
Everyone who works remotely or works from home and employers who have remote workers are able to enter. And anybody who wants to work from home can also enter to win a £15k home based franchise of their very own as well as other great prizes, one of them being a Garden Home Office worth £10k! The Open University Skills Award gives someone the chance to train or re-train for a brand new career!

About Your Local Cinema
The cinema industry uses Dean’s service to reach out to people with hearing or sight problems who are interested in going to the cinema. All cinemas with a subtitle & audio description system email my service their listings each week.

Dean sorts them all out, and every week sends out an e-newsletter to more than 60,000 addresses, containing those subtitled and described films, locations and show times. There are around 500 subtitled shows every week, and thousands more audio described shows in more than 300 cinemas nationwide.

Dean’s company is an advocate for the public, and deals with representatives of the cinema/film business on behalf of the public.

It's a member of the film industry's 'Disability Working Group', a collection of representatives from cinema, distribution and technology companies, as well as representatives from the main charities for people with hearing or sight problems. This group meets regularly to review and plan the future of 'accessible' cinema.

It began with a campaign, with a petition to the cinema industry. Dean trialed it in his school, which had a dozen deaf students and the petition got over a thousand names from that school alone. So he launched a website to publicise the petition nationally and over the next year or so got many, many thousands of names. Eventually Dean took the petition to the UK Film Council, who spend millions of pounds annually on film- related projects, and persuaded them to seriously investigate the 'cinema access' issue.

They looked into the matter and after more than three years of campaigning for better access, and actually working with the film industry, his company was hired by the film industry to be the 'marketing arm' of cinema access. The main cinema companies and film distributors, as well as a few technology companies and the UK Film Council now sponsor his service.
For more information please contact:

PAULA WYNNE
Remote Worker Awards
Office: 0844 800 8355
Mobile: 077 8986 2746
Skype: 'remoteemployment'
Email: paula@remoteworkerawards.com
Web: www.remoteworkerawards.com

Dean’s contact: subtitles@yourlocalcinema.com
Dean’s website: http://www.yourlocalcinema.com

Businesswoman Wins Another Award

Last Thursday ten business women and ten of the UK’s leading businesswomen joined in the celebration when the winner of the FreshIdeas Events Mentor Competition was announced at a ceremony hosted by HSBC in London.

Karen Darby and Paula Wynne were stunned to find out that they had been chosen as the most successful mentoring couple from the very strong group of contestants, all of whom who had successful partnerships with their mentors.

Karen Darby, CEO of Call Britannia and Paula Wynne, co-founder of Remote Employment and the Remote Worker Awards, and Jackie Brennan, Director of FreshIdeas Events and organiser of the Mentor Competition, are available to share their mentoring experience with the millions of small business owners across the UK.

The eager entrepreneurs who entered the competition six months ago, have been mentored by the ‘cream’ of the UK’s entrepreneurial business women, fondly known as the MAD 'Make A Difference' Woman.

Karen Darby, founder of SimplySwitch, Karen Hanton of tobtable.co.uk and Jo Haigh, Author and Head of Corporate Finance of MGR who has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years, and Polly Gowers, Founder of Everyclick.com, a search engine that gives half of its revenue to charity, shared their experience with the large audience.

From the 10 businesswomen mentees, Paula impressed the judges with her passion and enthusiasm to succeed and for the innovative Remote Employment concept. Paula is Director and Co-founder of Remote Employment, an online web service dedicated to connecting employers with job seekers who work remotely or work from home, and has seen substantial expansion to her business with Karen’s help and guidance.

Paula said: “I am thrilled to win this prestigious award! I feel so privileged to have been a part of this competition. Working with Karen has been an incredible experience for me and my business!”

Karen Darby kicked off the evening with a talk about mentoring and how it can help a business grow. She finished by saying that she enjoyed learning from Paula’s experiences and because it was such a ‘buzz’ she was now mentoring other business owners.

The successful mentoring 'couple' shared their journey with delightful stories of Karen fishing frogs out of her garden pond to add intrigue to Paula’s stand at an Olympia exhibition, and Paula wearing brightly coloured guest slippers while Karen served chocolate crepes and vanilla ice cream during their meetings at Karen’s home.

Along with lots of fun and laughter, the audience also heard about inspirational moments, determination, business ‘savvy’ and revenue growth. After meetings with Karen and her whirlwind of lateral thinking, Paula invariably dashed off firing all guns, buttons, and cylinders to create new marketplace activities.

One of the initiatives Karen and Paula have worked on is launching The Remote Worker Awards, which highlights how remote working benefits business mobility, and if offering life changing prizes such as a home based franchise worth £15k, an Open University study grant and five business start up kits.

During the evening incredible stories emerged about how this mentoring experience has not only changed the Mentee’s businesses, but also changed the way the experienced and gifted Mentors do business.

Paula and Karen were presented with prizes from HSBC and Business Link in London, who have supported the innovative competition.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Fran Currie, Chief Operating Officer at Business Link in London congratulated the participants on their achievements. She said: “Congratulations to all of the participants for their hard work and perseverance. These women learned from the best in the fields and I am highly impressed with the quality of all the entrepreneurs.”

Pointing to recent research conducted by Business Link in London, Ms Currie said that many women entrepreneurs continue to face barriers to developing and growing their business. “Business Link in London was delighted to support this worthwhile programme. It is vital in the current climate that London’s women entrepreneurs are encouraged by other established businesses and organisations to develop and succeed in their own business ventures.”

Jackie Brennan, Director of FreshIdeas Events said: “The awards evening is a fitting celebration of the entrepreneurs’ achievements. We are pleased to have matched such bright entrepreneurs with some of London’s leading businesswomen. This scheme has required hard work from all of these women, and the positive outcome from this mentoring programme is extremely promising for the UK’s small business community.”

Along with her daily business, Paula is a SEEDA Women's Enterprise Ambassador and talks to women around the UK about the exciting new remote working culture. Her personal experience and proof of her determination and persistence is inspirational. Paula’s passion and enthusiasm for knowledge, new experiences, and business focus motivates other women’s belief in their business and renews their confidence.

For more details, go online www.freshideasevents.com or browse www.remoteemployment.com. For a chance to win one of the life changing prizes on offer, check out www.remoteworkerawards.com.

Remote Worker Awards Highlighted At Launch of SHEplc

A group of enterprising business women gathered at one of Berkshire’s premier hotels on the 1st of May to join in the re-launch of SHEplc, a dynamic network of businesswomen.

Mary Flavelle, founder of SHEplc, formed SHEplc in 2005,when she worked at the Chamber of Commerce. Hundreds of ladies have attended over the years and many have gone on to fantastic heights with their businesses, yet when Mary left the Chamber nearly three years ago the networking eventually events faded.

Mary’s belief and faith that one day she would own SHEplc came to pass when the Chamber handed it back to her with their blessing. Mary’s first guest speaker to launch the new and very exciting SHEplc, was Paula Wynne, founder of Remote Employment, Remote Employment, a job site specialising in flexible, remote and home working.

Paula was introduced as an Entrepreneur, Internet Female Hero, SEEDA Woman’s Ambassador, Businesswomen, Mum, Freelancer, Writer and PR Hound Dog!

Paula shared her journey of setting up Remote Employment soon after a shoulder operation left her with a dislocated collarbone and subsequent operations to reconstruct her shoulder with metal plates. Consumed with pain and discomfort as well as suffering from sleepless nights, Paula’s determination and persistence to succeed pulled her through.

During this very difficult time, Paula’s passion for the concept of remote working and home working launched the online website with lots of attention and Paula’s infectious enthusiasm has seen the company receive two business awards in a short space of time.

Paula invited all of Mary’s guests to enter The Remote Worker Awards, which aims to raise awareness for remote and home working as an alternative solution to redundancy and the traditional nine to five office routine.

The awards has nine different categories and award winners will walk away with a prestigious trophy and will enjoy up to £50k in prizes, including a Penthouse Garden Office worth £10k, a Home Based Franchise worth £15k, interior design, business starter kits, a mobile laptop and a fabulous luxury weekend at a von Essen Hotel.

Paula is used to talking to groups of women about being a PR Hound for their business along with other topics on marketing and business advice, and many of the SHEplc guests found her recent experience inspiring.

One such guest, Christine Chalklin, Astrologer and Life Coach, later thanked Paula for giving her business journey a ‘personal touch’. Christine has the fascinating task of giving chart readings to businesses who want a celestial map for navigating their business path.

Mary’s guests included Tessa Harris, editor of Berkshire Life, Carla Delaney, Editor of Business Monthly and Debra Aspinall, Editor of Vive Magazine. Mary said: “It was very exciting and exhilarating to launch my dream for SHEplc at Cliveden House. We had a wonderful group of ladies who enjoyed every minute of networking and sharing their business success with each other. We want to see more ladies joining us every month and share in the SHE experience!”

For more information about SHEplc and Mary’s fantastic business networking, get onto www.sheplc.com and get networking.

Or for more information or any other enquiry about working from home or working remotely, call 0844 800 8355 or browse www.remoteemployment.com. To have a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes, enter the Remote Worker Awards at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

UK Workers Get A Chance to Win A Home Business

Remote Employment has announced the launch of the Remote Worker Awards, to highlight how remote and home working benefits the environment and everyone's quality of work life. The Remote Worker Awards is not just another business award - it is a life changing awards!

Someone will win a new career, another a Penthouse Garden Office, one winner will walk away with their very own home based franchise worth £15k and lots of other entrants will start a new life with a home business.

The Remote Worker Awards comes at a time when thousands of people across the UK are faced with job losses or reduced hours. The awards aims to raise awareness for remote and home working as an alternate solution to redundancy and the traditional nine to five office routine.

Everyone is invited to enter as there are award categories for people who want to work from home with their own business as well as people who already work remotely or work from home.

The Work From Home Award will give several entrants the chance to change their career with a toolkit to start their own business. This will not only enhance their profile, impress friends and family, but more importantly receive instant recognition from their new clients when they start their new home business. They will also receive other prizes to ensure working from home is more efficient and enjoyable.

The Helen O' Grady Special Award will grant one person their very own home based franchise worth £15k, while The Vivid Green Award will set one lucky winner up with their own £10k Penthouse Garden Office.

Anyone looking for a life changing career, should enter The Helen O' Grady Special Award. This home based franchise is worth £15k and will be presented to a special person who is interested in changing the lives of children and young people in their area.

This award will attract people with an interest in drama and experience in teaching children who wish to set up their very own home based business working in school term time only. What a great work life balance!

Employees who currently work remotely or work from home will also be given the chance to impress their employer and work colleagues by winning The Remote Worker and Home Worker Awards.

All freelancers, self employed consultants and project contractors are encouraged to enter The Freelance Consultant Award. These workers, who already enjoy the benefits of a flexible employment solution, will be given the chance to show traditionalists why more companies should be recruiting this way. And they will walk away with 1000's of pounds in prizes, including a fabulous luxury weekend at a von Essen hotel!

To top it all, The Open University Skills Award will give one deserving winner a brand new career with a £2000 Open University prize and two runners-up great new job prospects with learning vouchers worth £500! Anyone looking to re-train or re-skill following redundancy will be able to ease their way back into work.

Improving skills is an ideal way to increase job security in these uncertain employment times. The £2000 first prize and two £500 runners up prizes can be used by students to develop themselves in their existing role, or with a complete change of career in mind.

The Remote Worker Awards will also celebrate the most innovative home based businesses in The Home Business Award with a collection of valuable prizes perfectly paired with small and large companies that use their home as a base to increase business mobility.

Paula Wynne, 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!
Paula said: "The Remote Worker Awards will feature the winners in a Remote Worker E-Book to help other companies to implement a flexible and remote working program."

The Remote Worker Awards has lined up a prestigious panel of judges with successful businesswoman and serial entrepreneur, Karen Darby, founder of SimplySwitch, leading the way. Judges include Alex Johnson of Shedworking fame. Karen said: "I am delighted to be a judge of the Remote Worker Awards! I am looking forward to see some brilliant examples of this trendy work culture."

The prestigious panel of judges also inlcude include Alex Johnson of Shedworking fame, Cath Roan from Careershifters, Diana Robertson from Business Link London, Tony Corbin of MATiSSE and Jackie Brennan of FreshIdeas Events. To add an exciting dimension to The Remote Worker Awards a remote judge, Jeff Zbar, founder of Chief Home Officer in the United States, has been appointed as a Remote Judge. This is remote judging ... or remote working at its best!

A great supporter of the awards is Helen Cook, Women's Enterprise Manager for the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). Helen said that she is pleased to support these awards because a significant number of women find the flexibility of running a home-based business highly attractive and offers the opportunity to combine caring responsibilities with work.

The winners of all the award categories, as well as runners up, will be invited to a ceremony at the luxurious Cliveden House, a von Essen hotel, which is set in 376 acres of magnificent formal gardens and parklands, and commands panoramic views over the beautiful Berkshire countryside and River Thames. The winners will sip Champagne with sponsored guests and the media amidst the grandeur of Cliveden'sbreathtaking features, lush sofas and exquisite furnishings.

So all Remote Workers, Home Workers, Home Businesses, Freelance Consultants and anyone wanting to work from home should all enter the Remote Worker Awards!

For more information or any other enquiry about the Remote Worker Awards, call 0844 800 8344 or browse www.remoteworkerawards.com.

Remote Worker Awards

Remote Employment have had a very exciting few months! We are about to launch The Remote Worker Awards to highlight how remote and home working benefits the environment, business production and an employee’s quality work life.

So far we have great prizes with a value of over £60k! One of them is a £10k Penthouse Garden Office and another is a home based franchise worth £15k!

Yesterday we secured The Open University with a Skills Award whereby they are giving a 3k study voucher for a new career. We are extremely proud to say this competition will change someone’s career and working life! We are expecting to unearth an abundance of inventive pioneers who champion flexibility with remote working solutions!

von Essen hotels will host the winning ceremony at 5 star Cliveden House. The luxurious Cliveden House is a National Trust Grade Two listed building set in 376 acres of magnificent formal gardens and parklands, and commands panoramic views over the beautiful Berkshire countryside and River Thames.

Shortlisted winners, winners, sponsors, judges and the media will be invited to Cliveden House for Champagne and Canapés. These lucky winners and guests will enjoy the slendour and elegance of one of the world's finest hotels. Read more about the winning ceremony.

Watch out for more details soon, in the meantime browse the different awards categories at www.remoteworkerawards.com.

Join our mailing list to find out the latest news about the awards.

Global Action Plan Audit

After Remote Employment’s Global Action Plan audit in January, we have now proudly implemented our Environment Policy.

If we could summarise the one day of auditing and measuring our carbon footprint in a nutshell, I would say we were made aware of the ‘bigger picture’. By this I mean, thinking laterally about all business transactions. Instead of just looking at a product that has arrived at our office, we should instead consider what impact it took to get there and what impact it will be when leaving our office.

Luckily, we are not a large manufacturing company as we are a small home office it is not too difficult to see where we can lower our footprint, but by looking at this ‘sideways’ or ‘un-blinkered’ view it definitely gives a 360 degree vision of an environmental policy. We took a good hard look at what we do, how we do it and how it could or would impact the environment and in doing so we set ‘Golden Green Rules’. This helps to see all business actions in focus and ensures that everything we do we have the ‘bigger picture’ in mind.

Remote Employment’s ethos is to take people off the road by encouraging more remote working and home working. The remote working concept is environmentally friendly and our aim with our journey towards a BS8555 is to form a home business model that others can follow. We will slowly create a formula for measuring impact, cutting down that impact and constant monitoring to maintain a lower impact and when we receive our accreditation we will offer an E Book through Remote Employment.

We are now keen to explore weird and wonderful concepts such as eco cleaning products, a water butt and a wormery for our kitchen waste. Keep reading our GAP blog to follow our green baby steps towards our environment management plan!

Strength to strength

Looking back over the last few months, I still have to pinch myself that I am working with such a fantastic group of women - both mentors and mentees and that includes Jackie, soon to be the matriarch of women mentoring!

Even though Karen Darby is my mentor and Guru, I have also had the pleasure of meeting with Jo Haigh and also talking to Karen Hanton. On top of this, the Mentees, all wonderful entrepreneurs, are banding together to help each other because we all have particular skills and experience and face different challenges and obstructions. I’m really looking forward to our brainstorming ‘round table’ or more like feet up lounging meet next week.

This half mad bunch of mentees of which I am one, have all just past the half way point in this great mentoring competition, which is a great place to start my three month update.

Five out of six objectives planned for the three month half way line have been achieved! Of this sales and revenue have made the biggest mark in our mentor growth. Traffic is also up and we have taken on new staff who are now building a great pipeline of future sales. With this boost to the business and our growing confidence in this fantastic new working culture, we are now talking to another staff member with the aim of bringing them on board in March.

It is very gratifying to talk to large companies and find that they are very interested in being associated with Remote Employment and the exciting roller coaster ride we are on! We have worked magic with strategic alliances and sponsorships with more great offerings about to come on board.

We are very proud of the response we have received from sponsors and how the Remote Worker Awards will change a few careers and working lives. We are now putting final plans for the awards and hope to announce our headline sponsor this week. We will also confirm the winning ceremony with a luxury hotel group. Watch this space for more updates on the awards and our stunning collection of prizes – now estimated to be valued at £50k!

January brings hope ...

We didn't get much time off over the festive season as we were in the process of getting a couple of sales people on board. Next year will be a longer break for sure! It gave us the chance to refresh not only ourselves, but our business objectives!

2009 was launched with a cold start for most of the country and a warm toasty feeling at Remote Employment as we looked back over the past year.It is almost one year since we launched and so much has happened to us since then. It was a great time to learn so much about our business and we know now that we are even more determined than ever to build our idea of remote working.We achieved loads of news coverage and won two awards in November!

We are seeing Jamie Quinn of Global Action Plan in the next week to start our audit towards achieving a BS8555 National Certificate to lower our carbon footprint. Of course, remote working and home working goes a long way to achieving this. We are looking forward to working with Jamie and Global Action Plan to educate ourselves and our web viewers on ways to work in harmony with the environment.

Our plan for staffing Remote Employment is one of the objectives we are working on with Karen. This year will be focused on increasing growth. We started the year with a good pipeline and with the prospect on more people on board to help grow revenue, we will lift our heads above the hype of doom and gloom of the unemployment frenzy.

Strangely enough, now is a good time for us as many employers are seeing the value in outsourcing and offering flexible work options to suit their budgets, which gives employees a quality work life.We now need to highlight the benefits of remote and home working to businesses and show how they can still employ people during the economic situation just by changing to new ways of working. We have some very exciting plans in action to highlight how remote working can benefit the environment, employees and business growth so watch this space!

Can Home Working Save The Planet?

A new report for the Smith Institute and the Live Work Network shows how remote working - and home working in general - cuts carbon emissions.

How homes can become workspace in a low carbon economy is edited by Tim Dwelly and Andy Lake of the Live Work Network and includes the thoughts of leading world experts (including World Wildlife Fund policy adviser Denis Pamlin and BT head of policy Caroline Waters) on the environmental impact of the shift to home working and live/work property.

Live Work Network is a membership organisation for everyone with an interest in providing live/work units - properties that combine workplace and home. They believe they are the UK's sole information service on live/work. As well as running this resourceful website, they also hold seminars, keep members in touch with email newsletters, and offer fast track referrals, linking members with others they can learn from and share knowledge.

Chapters include in-depth comparison of carbon emissions by home workers and office workers, new statisticts from Strathclyde University on home based businesses, ideas for low carbon live/work developments and ways employers can benefit from a shift to home working.
Responding to this news, Paula Wynne, co-founder and Director of Remote Employment, an online home working network said: “This report shows that there are more efficient, productive, and greener ways of working. Small businesses should be more proactive in tackling climate change and reduce costs through reducing their energy consumption. Home working is one way to achieve this.”
Remote Employment is dedicated to flexible jobs working from home, work from home jobs, and home based business and home based franchise opportunities and they are extremely proud of their recent BT Global Action Plan ‘Responsible Business Day’ Award.
From a national search, Remote Employment impressed judges with their passion and determination to understand and reduce their current impact on both the environment and society.

Remote Employment agree with Live Work Network that the case for home working goes beyond the proven environmental benefits. There are also other tangible advantages to both employees and employers from working at home. With commutes becoming ever longer and more unpleasant, home working offers the opportunity for a much less stressful working experience and a better work-life balance.

Individuals can work more flexibly, while cutting out the need to commute regularly gives people more free time. The authors of this new report also provide evidence that there are real savings for businesses by reducing the need for valuable office space, as well as higher levels of workforce satisfaction, improved staff retention and reduced absenteeism.
The trend is towards more home working and greater flexibility, with new technologies allowing individuals to connect their homes to the global marketplace. These changes are transforming society and present new challenges to the way we live and work. The report’s collection of essays examines these challenges up close, and concludes that there are lasting individual and collective benefits by moving to a more environmentally friendly home working economy.

Flexible working, which includes an ability to work from home flexibly and to structure hours more around the needs of family life, should not be confused with making a substantial reduction to our carbon footprints as workers. This is because most home working employees are only temporarily away from their ‘main workspace’ - a building that remains fuelled day and night (and had to be constructed in the first place).

The carbon benefits of employees’ occasionally home working are likely to be relatively small. If however, employers use the potential of home working to reduce or remove their office or workspace infrastructure, as some employers like BT are increasingly doing, then significant benefits can flow.

Contributors to the 115 page report include Treasury adviser Kate Barker, Places for People Group chief executive David Cowans, World Wildlife Fund policy adviser Denis Pamlin, BT head of policy Caroline Waters and CABE chief executive Richard Simmons.
Acknowledged carbon expert, Professor Peter James, reveals key data on the net carbon benefits of home working compared to ordinary office working. The report includes a comparison of carbon emissions by home workers and office workers as well as ways in which employers can benefit from a shift to home working.

Tim Dwelly said: "This brings home the critical importance of live/work and home-based business to the future low carbon economy. We simply cannot go on assuming that commuting between separate homes and workspaces will remain the norm. We are no longer in the industrial era. With over 40% of all UK businesses now home-based and numbers likely to rise in the downturn, it is time for policymakers to urgently review their approach to employment and business and recognise the potential contribution of the live/work part of the UK economy."
For more information, browse www.remoteemployment.com or download the full report here.