The portal will serve as a resource for employers and employees alike, offering training, guidance, case studies and product offers from the consortium, whose members include Business in the Community (BITC), Microsoft, Nokia, Nuffield, Regus and Vodafone UK. The initiative is supported by the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The portal is the first step by the consortium in delivering tools and advice that will help British organisations understand the benefits of flexible working. Through its efforts, the consortium will drive awareness in the build up to Anywhere Working Week, commencing 27 February, 2012. During this week, the consortium will provide additional guidance to organisations seeking to learn more about flexible working, as well as celebrate those that have actively supported the initiative.
The Anywhere Working Consortium was unveiled in November 2011 by transport minister, Norman Baker. Its purpose is to help organisations drive greater productivity and efficiency, reduce employee stress and absenteeism, lower carbon emissions from travelling and compete in an economically challenging environment. The initiative aims to secure 30,000 supporters of this new way of working, with a total audience reach of 300,000.
The portal has been created to provide employers and employees with guidance on how to work smarter, including the promotion of alternatives to travel. Organisations can also measure how time, money and carbon energy they can save by working more flexibly by entering information into the portal's Savings Calculator.
Baker said: "It's simply not necessary for us to always trudge to and from meetings when modern technology allows you to circumnavigate the globe virtually from the comfort of your front room, local coffee shop or when you're on the move. Working flexibly by using video conferences, webinars or cloud computing can help increase productivity as well as employee wellbeing, not to mention dramatically reducing our carbon footprint. This interactive portal can help businesses reap these rewards."
"It's no longer viable for businesses to stick to rigid, inefficient ways of working if they want to compete successfully in the market," said Gordon Frazer, Managing Director at Microsoft UK. "We've already received fantastic feedback from people who want to learn how to work in a more dynamic and collaborative environment, anytime, anywhere. We encourage businesses to get involved as we continue to build up to the Anywhere Working Week starting on 27th February."
Business in the Community chief executive Stephen Howard added: "Business in the Community encourages its members as responsible businesses to reduce the amount of carbon generated by business travel as well as offering flexible working practices. Commuting accounts for around a fifth of all miles travelled to say nothing of the time lost to business and the impact on employees' quality of life and work life balance. Supporting Anywhere Working is a way that responsible employers can save money and carbon and support their workforce."
Peter Kelly, director of enterprise from Vodafone UK, commented: "Finding better ways of working can support businesses to be more agile, flexible and responsive and find a real competitive edge. Where work is done isn't nearly as important as how efficiently and effectively it's done. Empowering people to work from anywhere, anytime, rather than tying them to a fixed location is win-win for both employers and employees. In fact, our research shows that seven out of ten managers think the idea of the 9 to 5 work day is disappearing in favour of more flexible working practices. We encourage businesses and employees to use the Anywhere Working online portal to discover the opportunities that exist through changing the way they work."
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