South West Says 'Don't Delay Flexible Working'

On the 4 November 2008, actnow flex  held a ground-breaking conference at the Eden Project in Cornwall, called 'Business Anytime Anywhere.' Sponsored by Cornwall Pure Business and others including the SWRDA, this was the first conference in the UK to focus on the benefits of flexible working to small and medium sized businesses.
 
The conference unveiled the findings of an innovative pilot study with businesses from Cornwall and around the South West, showing the impact it had on their business productivity and on the work-life balance of employers and employees.

Startling new results, from an 18-month study of South West businesses, have revealed that shelving April's expansion of flexible working is possibly the worst thing the Government could do to fight the economic slowdown.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson is under pressure, from voices as diverse as the Institute of Directors and The Sun newspaper, to postpone plans to extend the right to request flexible work arrangements to a further 4.5 million parents nationwide, until the economic climate has improved.

However, the new findings, announced during the Business Anytime Anywhere conference at the Eden Project, show that virtually every participating company gained a significant competitive advantage when employees worked flexibly.

The region-wide pilot study was organised by the Cornwall Enterprise-led actnow flex project and performed by the Future Work Forum at Reading University's Henley Business School and the charity Sustain IT.

Given the opposition to flexible working in some business quarters, the results are surprisingly conclusive.  On average, amongst firms adopting flexible working:

* 78% experienced an increase in productivity
* 76% saved on fuel costs, due to less business travel 
* 77% said that employee satisfaction had increased, with 81%   of staff saying they were more likely to stay with their employer
* 68% of employees said they worked more effectively
* 58% of businesses experienced a reduction in staff absences
* 63% of businesses reduced costs
* 59% improved profitability
* 72% reported an improvement in work life balance

actnow flex project manager Julian Cowans responded:  "We were confident of a positive result, but these findings are just stunning.  Quite aside from the important environmental and work-life balance considerations, these results prove beyond doubt that there are hard business advantages to flexible working.

"This is not the time to lose those benefits.  We appreciate there's an initial investment required, but surely supporting businesses through the process would be a more constructive response, and stand them in better stead for the future."

Carleen Kelemen, director of the Objective One and Convergence Partnership Office in Cornwall, agreed:  "We need to change the way we work in the 21st century. The UK is primarily a service and knowledge- based economy, with the technology to work more flexibly.  The main benefit of existing flexible working schemes across the UK has been to attract and retain talented people. Through the Objective One project, actnow, we have provided Cornish businesses with the technology and business support to maximise the benefits of flexible working. The challenge for us is not only one of technology, but also a matter of culture and management style."

Funded by the South West RDA, BT, inward investment service Cornwall Pure Business, Cornwall County Council and Cornwall Enterprise, today's event was the UK's first ever conference on exploring the impact of flexible working for small and medium-sized businesses.

Michael Dunn, Regional Manager of BT, commented: "BT has seen great benefits since enabling 74,000 of our own staff to work flexibly.  It's great news that so many South West businesses are now experiencing that success for themselves."

Roger Hunter, Business Development Product Manager at SWRDA, added:  "Given the impressive local take-up of flexible business technology like broadband, WiFi hotspots, video conferencing and mobile internet technology, it's very apt that the South West is once again showing Britain the way forward."

For more information on flexible working, visit www.flexible-working.org