Nottingham County Council has approved the UK’s first ever ‘charging for parking’ at work scheme whereby companies offering 11 spaces or more for employees will be charged at least £250 a year, although they can choose to pass on the charges to their employees should they wish to. Other councils have shown interest in implementing similar schemes to reduce city commuting by car.
It seems to me that this is just another way of squeezing more money from companies in the name of climate change. However if the scheme does take off then it strengthens the argument for allowing widespread remote working for jobs which can be performed anywhere, in my opinion. Having fewer cars on the road can only lead to less congestion, less pollution, less noise and less need for disruptive roadworks, so I am all in favour for schemes which encourage a flexible approach to how we work and how organisations operate.
“However if the scheme does take off then it strengthens the argument for allowing widespread remote working for jobs”
Shelve stacking by remote control ? Serving customers by remote control ?
Making things in a factory by remote control ?
If the councils advocate such workings, why do they have their offices in the town or city center with loads of employees and enormous car parks ? Most of what they do, could be done this way I think.
Clearly not all jobs are suitable for remote working. I certainly don’t see shop assistants working from home!
How many people actually need to go to the council offices for services from them? They only choose to be in the town centres because that is where the offices have always been. Clearly they need to be there for registrations eg. births, deaths and marriages. But what about the people who are not customer facing?
There are pleanty of back office staff who could perform their jobs more cost effectively from another location…