At least I get dressed and use a desk at home.. Flexible working is not a right. It works for some jobs and not others (for example I have to be in a electronics lab at times, but at other times any desk will do), and for the jobs it works with, it only works when the employee is willing to work hard and requires no supervision.
That is not the highest % I can tell you. Yes go to a big work-from-home scheme, and after monitoring the employes TV and netflix use, you will see a 800% increase in fiddling about, while the employee is being "paid to work". I am sure liberals want this because it is another entitlement. OK, but why? Most people have to have some level of supervision even if to go ask the boss what to do about xyz.. they have not the skills or cultural temperment to work diligently alone.
I've often wished the society was a 24-hour society. This would allow flexibility enough, because 'everything' from the store to courthouse would be open 24 hours, and a person that needed flex work, and still needs supervision, could report to work during some 8 hour period available to them for example at night.
'supervision' - some may see it as a dirty word and get indignant, but the only way to make the boss happy, and promote flexible working, is going to be some way to know the employee is working.
For individual contributors like some engineers and sales people, etc, it is by results, Was this or that done this quarter? For hourly paid folks, how can supervision be carried out when the employee is outta sight?
There is another kind of flex work for call centers (ugh what a terrible job, but people do it..), where the employee logs in from home, and takes or makes calls offered by the computer screen (this is what happens in a call center). That is easy to supervise, the calls are taken or not, amount of time per call, supervision according to 'call time', instead of 'logged in time' which may be idle, etc. and avoids what managers fear the most, employees not working when they should be.
What ways can the worker be freed from the long commute, and the boss still be happy?
“The Morning Briefing” is SmartPlanet’s daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we’re reading about flexible work lifestyles and environments.
1.) Charity pushes for flexible working hours. Flexible working is a low-cost, high-impact way for employers to get the very best from their staff, support their families, and improve performance, helping them weather the current economic climate, and be an employer-of-choice into the recovery.
2.) Dixons Retail to deploy Office 365 in move towards flexible working. Dixons Retail will deploy cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 software across its operation in the UK and Ireland, Czech Republic and Hong Kong, the owner of the retail chain, and others including PC World and Currys has announced.
3.) Not just for new parents: Flexible working should be a right for all of us. U.K. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg;s support for flexible working for parents is welcome and overdue but, arguably, his plans don’t go far enough.
4.) Lawyers warn of potential consequences of flexible working rights. Plans to allow more people to work flexibly are being broadly welcomed, but lawyers are warning there could be some unintended consequences for employers and their staff.
5.) Flexible work hours dramatically affect happiness. [Infographic]
Image credit: Flickr
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