Consider these facts:
• By 2010 less than 20% of the workforce will be white, able-bodied men under the age of 45
[Government statistics]
• Circa 40%-50% of office space is not utilised
• Paying people more doesn’t motivate them to work more: research has shown that people would prefer job satisfaction and more time, than more money.
• Employment legislation granting flexible working rights is on the increase: it is extending to all parts of the labour force.
• 50% of carbon emissions in the UK are from offices: heating, lighting, commuting all add to our changing climate. Environmental legislation is going to increase to ensure that businesses meet their carbon emissions reductions set by the Government.
Available labour : a changing workforce
The labour available to companies is no longer the same as it has been historically: employers can no longer rely on young, white males to work long hours and prioritise work above everything else.
Individuals are increasingly looking for a more flexible working arrangement to help them balance the demands of work, professional development, family, caring responsibilities to relatives, hobbies, travel and other external pressures such as commuting.
Britain is an aging population which brings different challenges to the older employees: they have caring roles for elderly relatives or even their spouses who will also be older. This increased demand on their time means they will need to work more flexibly to fulfil their other responsibilities.
Legislation surrounding flexible working: The legislative environment is increasingly providing workers with a wider array of employment rights and remedies against the employer for non-compliance: see our ‘Legislative Changes‘ page.
Increasing business flexibility: Time4balance can provide advice and training to help businesses understand how to devise and implement flexible working arrangements to suit their business needs whilst accommodating their individual’s personal needs for flexibility. Bespoke in-house training sessions will enable you to provide specialist training to your managers to help them understand not only the employment legislation but the practical business context in which to consider and apply this legislation.
Employment lawyers may offer specialist training but there experience is usually limited to the legal principles. Time4balance combines both legal expertise with how legislative requirements can be complied with in a way that suits your business.
The flexibility can help businesses to:
• Increase competitiveness and productivity
• Reduce rental space and associated costs
• Meet customer demand by operating in global time zones and out of office hours service
• Attract quality individuals from a larger pool of labour and reduce staff turnover
• Become an ‘employer of choice’
• Reduce carbon emissions thereby helping the environment
• Meet legislative requirement both employment and environmental legislation.
Expert advice:
Time4balance can provide a team of specialist consultants who are experts in their field. No one individual consultant can realistically provide businesses with the indepth skills and knowledge required to review and advise on devising and implementing flexible working.
Our team can provide the following expertise:
Property services
A property portfolio is an enormous overhead for most businesses. Effective utilisation is vital to ensure overheads are kept to a minimum and the working environment is supporting the individual and team work effectively. The more effective the environment, the less likely it will be to have high attrition rates and it will enhance individualís workplace satisfaction and productivity.
We advise businesses in relation to purchasing, fitting out and designing the optimum property for your business. Our architects and space planners work together with our IT and flexible working consultants to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to the office.
Process Analysis
An analysis of the differing processes your business has to determine where flexibility may enhance your ability to meet those processes and to increase their effectiveness and efficiency.
Business Planning
Planning for the challenges facing businesses: labour, environmental, IT changes, client expectations amongst many. Planning change over the short, medium and long term strategy of the business requires specialist input to ensure such plans can be realistic and successful.
Workplace Design
The layout of the workplace is vital to the successful implementation of flexible working. It is no use having the technology to ensure your workers are fully mobile if they simply sit at their allocated desk all day. True flexibility requires that the worker has access to a wide variety of working environments both within the office and externally. Break out areas, quiet meeting rooms, coffee lounges, hot desks will all help the office to be more dynamic, more effective in supporting the worker and more efficient as utilisation levels rise.
Occupational Psychology
Working flexibly requires certain disciplines within each individual. Some are well suited to working independently, others need to work as part of a team. By analysing each individual, we can provide strategies to help each individual maximise their potential,
Change Management
Employing different work practices requires both the business, the individuals and the clients to go through a change in culture, attitudes, practices and expectations. We specialise in identifying how cultural change can be managed and can provide workshops and support for all those involved in the change.
Information Technology advice
IT is changing so rapidly that it requires specialist knowledge and expertise to ensure that the business is kept up to date with the changes and to assist with decisions on which technology will enable their business to encompass change effectively. Our specialists provide experience of working within many organisations to enhance business use of the right technology.
Legal issues
Our team provides qualified lawyers to guide businesses through the legislative environment to assist in the understanding of the framework, the application of the rules and the implications of compliance or non-compliance. We provide in house training workshops to ensure that the relevant stakeholders understand the legislative environment in which they are working.
