The news that the British government would press on with its
plans to extend flexible working rights to an estimated 4.5 million
people can be viewed as a victory for work-life balance and a sign
as to how fundamentally technology has transformed the way we do
business, writes Stephen Beynon, managing director of ntl:Telewest
Business.
When this legislation was officially announced in the Queen's
speech, certain commentators were quick to suggest that granting
more parents the right to work flexibly would lead to a dip in the
country's productivity. What was most remarkable, however, was how
out of step these opinions seemed when compared with the realities
of modern working life. The fact is that it is no longer possible
or fair to consider the length of time that a worker spends in the
office as the key measure of productivity when our service
sector-dependent economy means that most Britons go to work with a
headset rather than a toolkit.
With technology now permeating almost every aspect of business
life, workers are naturally using it as an opportunity to work more
efficiently. The proliferation of smartphones and affordable
laptops in particular, has brought an end to the concept of 'dead
time', and spared many workers from the having to head back to the
office to catch up with correspondence after a long day on the
road.
Similarly the concept of the virtual office has also been
transformed in a few short years, benefiting from the fact that
high speed broadband connections have now become as essential to
most homes as hot and cold running water. This has significantly
reduced the cost to business of setting up homeworking programmes,
and with Virtual Private Networks in place, it is comparatively
simple and safe to grant workers remote access to company
networks.
Technology is also helping to deal directly with suggestions
that homeworking programmes are open to employee abuse. The
widespread adoption of messaging tools and presence indicators
makes it easy to understand remote workers' activity and
productivity, while helping them to stay motivated through regular
contact with colleagues. The ability to be flexible as to when and
where employees work can also play a critical part in building
successful global teams and doing business across international
boundaries - both areas where the UK has excelled in recent
years.
Another reason for accepting that technology and mindset are now
converging to create a workplace that is radically different from
that of a generation ago lies in the makeup of the workforce
itself. As the Web 2.0 generation graduates from the classroom to
the office, the expectation is that Telecom 2.0 will be ready and
waiting for them. For this generation of workers, VoIP,
videoconferencing and workplace instant messaging are not novelties
but necessities.
In today's testing business climate it has never been more
important to show that UK business is willing to be modern,
flexible and able to operate internationally. Technology has given
us the tools to accomplish all this while potentially improving the
work-life balance for millions of people. It really could give us
the best of both worlds.