3 February 2009

Remote and Home Workers Keep The Country Moving

As the country grinds to a standstill, with the heaviest snow for 18 years causing cancellation of buses, trains and airport closures, people working from home are keeping businesses open and fully operational despite this appalling weather.

While the Met Office has issued a further extreme weather warning for England, Wales and parts of eastern Scotland, it is estimated that the worst-affected area has been the Thames Valley and Greater London where the transport network is at its most concentrated, which is why there has been such chaos.

As thousands of businesses send staff home early because of the weather, others who employ remote workers and home workers are relieved and pleased that there has been no disruption to their normal business day.

At least 3 million Brits who are home based or work flexibly or remotely were able to lie in bed without jumping up to get the snow cleared from the drive and battling cold non-starting engines. They were not affected by delayed or cancelled public transport; instead, they were able to throw a few snowballs with ‘home-bound’ kids before ambling into their home office and getting down to business as usual.

Remote Employment, a web service specialising in flexible, remote and home working jobs, highlights how remote and home working benefits the environment, business production and an employee’s quality work life. With the rise in adverse weather conditions now might be a good time for more companies to try smarter employment solutions by giving employees the opportunity to work flexible hours, work remotely or work from home.

Responding to the news of the vast disruptions in business with many companies working either on ‘skeleton staff’ basis or not at all, Director of Remote Employment, Paula Wynne, reported that many of their clients were relieved to have their employees working remotely or working from home.

She said: “Companies up and down the country are benefitting from this flexible way of working. While people are being advised not to travel, their staff still able to keep business wheels in motion from the sanctuary of their own home. We would like to encourage companies to try out working from home or implement some form of flexible and remote working.”

Remote working and working from home significantly, enabling businesses to be more competitive, and enhances work-life balance for staff, with added health and leisure benefits.


Call centres, service agencies, and forward thinking organisations across the UK have improved productivity by giving staff work from home options or by outsourcing their company services and projects to freelancers and remote workers. All of these businesses have been hardly affected by the wide spread weather chaos.

Remote working is the perfect green or ‘snow-white’ employment solution. With this new approach, more and more employers are now considering remote working and working from home as viable options in their recruitment drive.

For more information, browse www.remoteemployment.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