Major disruption is expected for city commuters today as thousands of underground workers go on strike at 5pm and will remain so throughout Tuesday. The knock on effects for companies whose employees cannot get to their offices, or experience long delays due to finding alternative modes of transport, could include major delays in responding to customers. (more…)
Archive for the ‘flexible working’ Category
Business Continuity During Tube Strikes
Monday, September 6th, 2010No comms? No problem?
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010If your office has no communications, how would you continue working?
Aim for 100% continuity
When considering implementing a telecoms business continuity solution you should aim to ensure that the service you provide to your customers and suppliers is as close to normality as possible. By achieving this you minimise any negative effects of the disruption. Yet many businesses are settling for second best rather than 100% continuity. (more…)
Finance Sector Employees Want Flexible working
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers almost half of respondents listed flexible working as a key incentive, eclipsing performance related bonuses which only one fifth of those surveyed listed.
Michael Rendell, HR services leader at PwC, said financial firms that are able to accommodate flexible working will enjoy better levels of staff morale.
It is also widely accepted that those organisations may also be in a better position to retain the most talented employees.
Modern lives are so full with work, commuting, pressure and home/ family responsibilities that people often feel that their lives are being dictated for them and that they have little control over their time. Being able to work flexibly gives people back that control which in turn leads to more productive and balanced lives.
For the financial sector, working from home or other location has sometimes been seen as too risky, where private information may get leaked. But I would argue that this risk can easily be mitigated with processes and technology.
Security measures to protect laptops should be in force whether the employee is based at home or in the office, and voice recording of calls, whether by mobile or landline, can be the norm wherever an employee is located.
The number of job roles which can be performed away from the traditional office building is ever increasing, and this should be the case for the financial sector as well.
Warn and Inform: How do you contact all your employees at the same time?
Monday, August 9th, 2010In a society where people are increasingly working more flexibly and remotely, keeping in contact is more important than ever. But how do you communicate with all those people at the same time? (more…)
Business Continuity: Technology and Processes Must Go Hand in Hand
Friday, August 6th, 2010Having a process in place to enable your employees to work from home or remote location when they cannot get into their office goes a long way to ensuring that your business can continue to operate under adverse conditions. But these plans become useless when the technology is insufficient to support the process. (more…)
Homeworking: Changing Attitudes?
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010The biggest barrier to managers allowing their team members to work from home some or all of the week is still their attitude. Being able to see their staff sitting in front of a computer somehow fills them with confidence that they are working 110%. However in my own experience the weekly or daily audio conference call still has the power to bring people to account for the work they have been doing, perhaps even more so when they are on the same call as their collegaues and peers. (more…)
Business Continuity Manager Is On Holiday. What’s Your Back Up Plan?
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010The holiday season is here and between now and September many of your staff will be off for one or two weeks at a time, including your business continuity manager, IT and Telecoms managers and key senior staff.
If all were to be off at the same time and a major disruption happened to your organisation’s building, who would be in charge of the business continuity plans and would they know how to keep the business operational? (more…)
Telecoms Resilience: Keeping Going, Not Just Recovery
Monday, July 19th, 2010Do the majority of people understand that telecoms resilience is about keeping a company’s communication channels always open, rather than simply trying to recover them when it all goes wrong? (more…)
Flexible Working Top Of The List For Britons To Stop Taking ‘Sickies’
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010Flexible working came top of the list of the 5 things that would encourage Brits to take less time off work.
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Will you embrace government incentives for flexible working?
Monday, July 12th, 2010Will organisations embrace new government incentives for introducing flexible working? (more…)
