Flexible Working

Remember last year when a snow storm shut down the US for two days? Or are you already working out how you'll get to work in London during the upcoming Olympics? With a good communication plan, you don't need to worry about either eventuality.

Whether to have a completely virtual or a completely physical workplace seems to be the question a lot of companies are asking themselves. But it's the wrong question. This shouldn't be an either-or proposition.

Most of the rules companies work under are badly outdated. And that's particularly true when it comes to remote working, where most HR departments are scrambling to make sense of what's happened.

Flexible workplace initiatives aren't just window-dressing. Flexibility brings with it improvements in employees' health and well-being, reduces absenteeism rates and boosts employee commitment.

Many employers might claim they support work-life balance initiatives but a new report suggests that much of this is just so much hot air, with a yawning gap between what managers say and how they behave in practice.

What are the things a new leader of a remote team can do to get started on the right foot? Here are four tips to make sure that your management is as effective virtually as face-to-face.

Trust is one of the biggest challenges to working remotely. Trusting the people your work with (and for) has never been easy. When you work remotely it's even tougher. But it can be done if you remember eight key factors.

Australia's government thinks that remote working is the way of the future and is encouraging employers to get with the telework program. But what about other countries?

Asking for what you want from your colleagues or in-house resources isn't easy. And it's even harder when you aren't looking someone in the eye as you push for what you need. So here's how to increase the odds of getting what you want while maintaining great virtual relationships.

Do you lead a remote team or a virtual team? Or is it both? The words get used interchangeably, but they are different animals. And when it comes to managing one, that difference matters.

The most common complaint about online meetings is that they are a colossal waste of time. But they shouldn't be. Here are three simple tips for getting a webmeeting off to a great start and ensuring that your time is well-spent.

Today's managers need to be connected - to their teams and organizations, whether they are located, to the outside world and to the technology that makes all this possible. That's a tough call – which is why managers need a little help - and why we're here to provide it.

A big thumbs up to serial entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of the Virgin Group, who thinks that the pitiful amount of holiday American workers are given "stinks" and believes American business need to be much more open to workforce flexibility.

If employers are serious about wanting to encourage women to return to work after having children, one of the most important things they can do is to offer new mothers greater flexibility about when, where and how they work.

The majority of employees across the world do not believe that they need to be in the office to be productive and are demanding the tools and flexibility to work where, when and how they like.

Economic instability, uncertain energy supplies and climate change will leave organisations no choice but to reform their archaic working practices. But far from being a burden, this offers a unique opportunity to overcome corporate inertia and dismantle the barriers to transforming work.

Flexible working is the most valued benefit for employees, proving far more popular than material perks such as bonuses, according to a new survey carried out in the UK by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The recession has boosted the adoption of new ways of working as companies respond to pressure to reduce overheads such as travel and office costs and encourage their staff to work more flexibly.

Why would somebody choose to do something other than help your team or project to be successful? The answer is hardly ever that they want to sabotage things intentionally, but that they chose to do something else instead.

Here's the million dollar question: "can a flexible boss improve your health?" It seems quite an easy question to answer. Let me count the ways.

Rather than just clipping the wings of older "snow bird" workers, managers should use them as mentors, give them access to learning and be more flexible about how they work

When I talk to managers about how they manage their remote employees, it quickly becomes clear that no-one sees the challenges in the same way. Some raise issues around communication and trust, others are more worried about those who are still office bound.

When we start writing up the review for 2009, the two biggest party-killers for companies will be the economic mess we're in and the swine flu. But being the type to occasionally find the silver lining in a cloud, I believe that these may actually have some positive effects.

Virtual teams are much more prone to relationship breakdowns that can quickly send their performance plummeting unless they are carefully managed.

While Remote Teams might be virtual, and Virtual Teams are almost always remote, there is an important distinction between them. A smart manager needs to know this, because the roots of success or failure lie in this distinction.

The idea that organisations can boost productivity by measuring time is a hangover from a bygone age. What matters isn't time, but creativity, output, outcomes and productivity. So for those organisations still clinging onto the vestiges of a time-based culture, the message is that it's time for a change.

It may still be two months before he is sworn in, but President-elect Barack Obama could prove a transformational leader when it comes to reform of the American workplace.

Companies tend to make five common mistakes when first allowing their staff to work remotely, including forgetting to explain how they can expect to be managed.

Far from being dynamic consensus-seekers who split their time between hot desk and breakout zone, most managers are nowhere near adopting a "smart" approach to their work.

The number of us working from home has risen dramatically in the past four years, suggesting a move away from an "all present and correct" approach to management.

An interesting fact to emerge from the "2008-2009 WorldatWork Salary Budget Survey" is that teleworking has soared in popularity the U.S. and Canada over the past 12 months.

I work from home now and happy to do so. I'm not technically mobile, but I am "gladly out of office" - which makes me a GOOF, an acronym both unfortunate and true. Because having a workplace that ISN'T the same as your abode was not without its charms.

As the price of gas increases, more and more employees are looking for opportunities to work from home. But sadly, there are plenty of operations that are trying to scam people instead of providing them with real work-from-home opportunities.

Who needs an office anyway? That's what an increasing number of organisations are asking as a new survey from the UK reveals that up to half of small businesses don't work from formal business premises.

A four-day work week might seem like a radical way to cut energy consumption, but it is gaining acceptance among state governments across the U.S. and looks set to spread further still.

Soaring fuel prices are precipitating a new workplace revolution that helps connect the United States to the rest of the global workplace.

With fuel prices rocketing, the debate about whether to allow employees to work from home has become as much about how much money it can save as about work-life balance.

A growing number of organizations acknowledge that flexibile working is a critical retention and recruitment tool. But lingering suspicion means that most don't maximize the value that flexibility brings.

A new study has found that flexible working can bring a big boost to the bottom line by reducing absenteeism, improving employee health and even helping to improve employee commitment.

A growing number of U.S workers are now working from home or telecommuting, but employers are still way too laid back about the possible security risks this entails.

U.S. workers take duvet days not because they are lazy or work-shy but because they are either feeling completely burnt out or frantically dealing with a family or relationship crisis.

Managers are demanding greater control over their own working hours, despite complaining bitterly about having to manage the flexible working arrangements of others.

Forget about juggling work and kids. The biggest challenge for workers over the next decade will be holding down a job while looking after ageing relatives.

When most Americans say they want better work-life balance they aren't asking to take their foot off the career accelerator, they simply want to work differently.

If the attitude towards working dada at major American companies such as Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Sun Microsystems are any indication, it looks like corporate American's view of fatherhood is evolving - much like society's view on it

Grumbles about a lack of work-life balance are often a sign that staff are unhappy about other areas of their job and how they are being managed.

More and more Americans are working anywhere but at their desks, as the airport lounge, the coffee bar, the family table and the car increasingly become the office spaces of the future.

Let's talk about the black sheep of the white collar world – shhh – don't say it too loud, HR might be listening in – but go ahead and say it... "telecommuting". Go ahead, try it again... "telecommuting".

It's not rocket science. When employees are deciding whether or not to take a new job, being able to work flexibly or remotely will often swing the balance. But try telling that to HR.

As you may have noticed, they're demanding, don't take kindly to authority, expect high salaries and rapid promotion but want to work flexibly. Welcome to the "Generation Y" workforce.

Working from home one day a week has transformed Peter's life. But could economic jitters put paid to his company's support for flexibility – and what can he do to prevent this?

If you are stuck on the train or in a traffic jam every morning, you might well dream about working from home. But the reality is that flexible working does not necessarily lead to greater leisure or family time.

On this week's Working Week podcast, Wayne is joined by writer and management journalist, Phil Whiteley, co-author of a new book, How to Manage in a Flat World. They discuss how managers can communicate and motivate in today's flattened companies and how this might develop in the future.

On this week's Working Week podcast, Wayne is joined by writer and management journalist, Phil Whiteley, co-author of a new book, How to Manage in a Flat World. They discuss how managers can communicate and motivate in today's flattened companies and how this might develop in the future.

The laptop-wielding nomadic worker is becming quite in fashion in the American workplace these days - and not just in Silicon Valley.

The remote working revolution is being hampered because many mangers are stuck in the mindset that they can only manage a team that is physically there in front of them.

With mobile workers expected to account for a quarter of the working population by 2009, what are the personality types, cultural influences and management techniques that are needed for success?

Here in the UK, government legislation is driving organisations to offer more open work arrangements to staff with the aim of ensuring parents and carers have the opportunity to progress with careers.

More and more of us don't want to work in an office. Now Microsoft has built an office up a tree in a Central London park to ram home the point that it easier than ever to be free of your desk and still be productive.

Dan is desperate to work a more flexible schedule but his boss told him that he's too valuable not to have around all the time. So how can Dan make him see that if he can't figure out a better fit between his life and his job, he's leaving?