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Cath Everett

Sift Media

Freelance journalist and former editor of HRZone

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London 2012: 02 staff pilot flexible working options

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O2 has asked a quarter of its staff to work remotely today in order to test whether contingency plans intended to manage expected travel disruption during the Olympic Games will work.

The mobile telephone operator has closed its Slough headquarters and provided 3,000 employees with access to the necessary technology and support to do their jobs elsewhere as part of what it claims is the biggest flexible working initiative of its kind to date.
 
The firm is likewise attempting to exploit the test as a PR opportunity to drum up trade by pushing the benefits of using mobile technology in a flexible working context.
 
Ben Dowd, its business director, said: “Today’s office-wide flexible working initiative is an opportunity for us to take the next step on our flexible working journey and tangibly demonstrate the opportunity and potential available to British businesses today.”
 
As a result, the company plans to share lessons from its pilot project with third party organisations in order to support them in going down this route themselves, he added.
 
According to an online poll among 1,241 UK employers conducted by O2, a third expected to encourage their staff to work flexibly this summer. But, while just under two in five believed that flexible working made employees more productive and 43% said it helped staff retention, a huge 77% prevented people from working flexibly across teams.
 
A further 16% said that they had no flexible working policy in place at all.
 

One Response

  1. Good post

    Flexible working is something that can work very well and help accomodate the different needs and working styles of your employees. However, it is important that O2 in this case make sure that the employees that they are asking to work remotely are engaged with the idea otherwise it may backfire.

     

    — Dave Evans, commercial director at accessplanit, specialising in training administration software and learning management system.

Author Profile Picture
Cath Everett

Freelance journalist and former editor of HRZone

Read more from Cath Everett
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