WHEN it comes to helping staff work from home, David Dunbar practises what he
preaches.
As head of BT Workstyle, the division of the telecoms group that sells
equipment and technology to other large corporations wanting to get their
own employees geared up for home working, Dunbar is something of a zealot.
Since 1988, he has worked from a purpose-built shed in his back garden, and
likes to joke that his daily commute is about ten seconds – two when it’s
raining.
It might sound eccentric, but Dunbar’s working practices are becoming the norm
for thousands of British workers attempting to achieve a far healthier
balance between their careers and their home lives than they might have
otherwise enjoyed.
Last Thursday, Michael Geoghegan, chief executive of HSBC, Britain’s biggest
bank, threw his weight firmly behind a drive to remove 4,000 of his
London-based staff from the group’s Canary Wharf headquarters and get them
working from home instead.
Speaking at a conference in Lisbon, Geoghegan said: “I’ve challenged us within
seven years to have 50% of that building empty, to sublet to someone else.
“I don’t think we’re a really progressive, perceptive company if 8,000 people
have to get up every day at an unearthly hour and go back again. Technology
should change our thought process.”
His remarks illustrate an ambition to change working practices at the bank,
although HSBC spin doctors were forced on Friday to deny some reports of the
speech that suggested the changes were simply a way of dressing up a wave of
mass lay-offs.
A spokesman said it was too early to determine how much money the bank might
save from adopting new, flexible working practices. “We are not talking
about a position where there are plans in place that get us from here to
seven years’ time,” he said.
Geoghegan’s comments could not have been more timely. A day before he outlined
the bank’s thinking, the Equal Opportunities Commission published a study
accusing Britain of being among the worst countries in Europe at adopting
flexible working practices. It said that just 20% of UK employers allowed
staff to telework, half the level in Denmark, Germany and Sweden.
The concept of flexible working covers a multitude of techniques and
approaches, and it is unclear just how widespread home working is in Britain.
The Department of Trade and Industry published two surveys within the space of
a few months showing differing results.
Its second work-life balance study from October 2003 stated that regularly
working from home was available to 20% of all employees. In 2004, the
department’s workplace employment-relations survey, put the figure at 28%.
These are the most recent government statistics on the subject.
A report published by the British Chambers of Commerce last April stated that
38% of businesses offered staff the opportunity to work from home. A survey
of its members by the Institute of Directors suggested that 74% of them were
engaged in or providing home working, a figure that may have been distorted
by the number of one-man bands and sole traders who belong to the
organisation.
And surveys suggest that working from home is a popular option. One such,
conducted by Peninsula, the employment-law firm, suggested that 91% of
workers polled would work from home given the choice.
Although changes in policy, such as that announced last week by HSBC, are
being delivered with increased frequency, we should not be lured into
believing that such practices are commonplace.
Stephen Overell of The Work Foundation, said: “Three-quarters of workers don’t
have access to something as basic as flexitime.”
Still, a number of big British companies are shifting more staff over to home
working. At BT, for example, a little over 13,000 of the group’s staff have
decided to take this option.
And My Travel, the tour operator, has been migrating some staff working in its
high-street travel agency outlets to working from home. It said: “As a
group, we will always explore and use a number of distribution channels to
best meet the needs of the marketplace. Home working is one of these
channels and is being tried out in several My Travel UK businesses.”
And at Lloyds TSB, the high-street bank, one-third of staff have some form of
flexible-working arrangements, whether that is working from home or
flexitime.
Fiona Cannon, head of equality and diversity at Lloyds and deputy chairman of
the Equal Opportunities Commission, said that a shift in the way the bank’s
customers behave made a rethink of its employment practices a must.
“The world is no longer nine to five, especially for us as a bank,” she said.
“For us to work in a nine-to-five environment is not very helpful to our
customers.”
There may be other benefits, too, to adopting a more flexible approach. BT,
for example, argues that happier workers become more productive workers. It
estimates that on average home workers are 20% more productive and that
absenteeism is down 63%.
Lest we forget that big business is not altogether about altruism, there can
be other good reasons for being more flexible on employment matters. Fewer
staff at base means needing less space, which saves money, as does the
reduced requirement for all the back-up support one has in an office, such
as maintenance.
And in these ever more environmentally aware times, no doubt some companies
will view the idea of shoving staff out of the door to work from home
instead, as a sure-fire way of cutting back on their carbon footprint. The
trouble, said Overell, is that “we don’t know whether home working is going
to be more carbon efficient than working in an office”.
But there are downsides. Cannon said home working does not suit everybody.
“A lot of people go to work because it’sa social thing as well,” she said.
“The danger of home working sometimes is that people can feel very distant
and isolated from the organisation they work for.”
BT’s Dunbar agrees that it is the softer, social issues that are likely to
impede the introduction of flexible working practices in Britain rather than
the technological ones. He said: “The biggest barrier to this is cultural.
People have to get away from the fear that if they are away from the coffee
machine they won’t be seen or noticed and won’t be in line for promotion.”
