The second annual Work Wise Week takes place in May, and encourages firms to embrace flexible working initiatives.
Staff and employers are being asked by the Work Wise Group, a not-for-profit initiative, to spend the week trying out ‘smarter’ working practices, including flexible, mobile, remote and home working.
Many smarter working practices are simple to implement, and it is these that organisations are being encouraged to try. They include:
- Allowing staff to come in either an hour later or an hour earlier. This would enable staff to avoid the busiest travel times, effectively staggering the rush hour and making the journey more tolerable for everyone.
- Allowing staff to take a half-hour lunch break each day, and then let them leave at 3pm on Friday.
- Allowing staff to work from home on Friday. Even a small reduction in the number of people travelling on that day will have a significant impact on congestion and overcrowding.
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, said: “The age of working nine to five, five days a week, from a central location, is for many fast coming to an end. This rigid work structure, which is largely dictated by culture and nothing else, is wasteful in terms of time and resources, damaging to the environment, and harmful in that it impacts upon stress levels and the health of employees.”
Work Wise Week starts on 16 May and is supported by the TUC and CBI.
