23Sep, 2024
    Working from home is good for British companies, says Business Secretary

    Embracing working from home

    In a marked shift from the previous Conservative government’s stance, the Prime Minister has thrown his weight behind working from home, with Downing Street warning that a “culture of presentee-ism” is bad for productivity. 

    Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds described how he believes that embracing working from home will give a boost to British businesses, arguing that it allows them to access the best talent across the country. He said that in his own government department, he champions working from home, citing inequality in the housing market.

    “For this department, which employs nearly 8,000 people, I want it to be a department where people can, as much as possible, live in any part of the UK and work for it,” he said. “It’s a UK-wide department with an international remit, but also one that is UK-wide. I think it’s incredibly important.

    “Sometimes, I’ve got people in the room, sometimes I’ve got people at home. Sometimes I’ve got people in many of the different offices that we have – I often have people who are in completely different time zones. I think being open to that kind of talent makes the organisation I lead far more effective. I think a lot of business leaders recognise that.

    “Look at the UK compared to other European countries – we do have a very pronounced regional inequality housing market that’s very different in different parts of the UK. So where businesses can be open to UK-wide talent and have the opportunity to access that talent, I think that’s got to be a good thing.”

    He acknowledged that there are “legitimate business reasons” why people may need to be in the office, and that in some jobs it is not possible to work at home.

    There has been growing concern in the City over Labour’s agenda, with business leaders warning they could end up “drowning” in red tape or being penalised for emailing workers outside of office hours. 

    But dismissing criticism of his workers’ rights package, Mr Reynolds insisted the “right to switch off” would not harm UK competitiveness.

    “You do your best work when you’re happy at home and when you’re happy at work, you’re happy at home,” he said. “It is a much better labour market in terms of how you can balance the complexities of life today.

    “I want people to be in a position, as lots of people are but I think too many people are not, where they can have the kind of work and prosperity and opportunities that can be part of modern life in terms of family and caring responsibilities,” he said.

    “I think people are happiest at home when they’ve got fulfilling work. And I think that’s the objective. It’s not about a tick box of measures that have been composited together. It’s about how I can work today in the UK and fit in with what people’s lives are like.”

    16Nov, 2022
    Working From Home, pro’s & cons

    Last week Elon Musk announced that there would be an end to his staff at Twitter working from home. Since the Covid lock down, many UK companies have also brought their staff back into the office, but is this the right move? A debate ensues.

    I would guess that many companies must have seen a detrimental effect in the productivity of their workforce …. or did they? What KPI’s were they employing on which to base their judgement?

    The obvious employee benefits of working from home would include:

    • Not having to spend time on travelling in to the office
    • No expense of travelling in to the office
    • Not having to get up so early in the morning on a workday
    • Not having to arrive home late every workday
    • Grab a coffee whenever suits
    • Warmth of your own environment
    • Nobody arriving at your desk saying ‘can you just ….’, or just looking for a chat
    • Peace and quiet in which to achieve your work goals

    The obvious employer benefits of working from home:

    • Reduced electricity bills
    • Reduced gas bills
    • Reduced rent and insurance bills
    • Reduced paper usage
    • Opportunity to make IT work for you and your business
    • Opportunity to improve people management and explore monitoring tools
    • Opportunity to improve people management skills

    I could go on and on for both scenarios but whilst I was compiling the above I gained feeling that maybe working from home could well have more advantages than disadvantages for both the employee and employer, but I get the feeling that many companies have been short sighted over the subject and as we have heard from Musk, staff don’t work as hard or see working from home as a cushy experience. Now following that familiar statement comes my argument. Are you perhaps anti working from home really because your management practices need modernising and revamping and you don’t see why you should? That’s not it in a nutshell, but our good old fashioned British values if you can remember them suggest that a happy and motivated employee is a good employee and one who will deliver as required.

    Some people simply cannot perform their duties from home, some people just don’t want to work from home, but many would like the opportunity to. And what’s all this about going into the office 2 days a week just so your face can be seen? Now that is nonsense. I am sure nobody would actually be pleased to see my face at any time at all. That I believe to be businesses asserting their authority just because they can. Not in the best interests of anybody at all.

    There is a lot of food for thought here and I am sure a lot for debate, but it is well worth taking the time and putting in some effort to explore the concept, you may find that it makes your company the one we want to work for!

    Kevin Edwards

    19Oct, 2022
    Will the UK financial chaos spark a wider meltdown?
    Governments everywhere are finding it more costly to borrow

    The recent chaos on the UK financial markets has generated waves of stress and selling by investors far beyond the UK.

    As the sell-offs collide with high inflation, rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine, they have raised fears the turmoil in the UK could set off a wider crisis.

    Many analysts have said they believe the fallout is likely to be limited, especially amid signs that the government is reconsidering some of its plans.

    Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked on Friday, and the government has dropped parts of the package of tax cuts that initially sparked the market turmoil.

    But the episode has highlighted the financial risks of the current moment.

    “Markets are fragile. We have seen vulnerability that’s been building over the last decade-plus,” Fabio Natalucci, a deputy director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said earlier this week, describing the UK episode as a “warning shot”.

    “That fragility makes the financial risk much more elevated.”

    More>>>

    19Oct, 2022
    Increasing food prices push inflation to 40 year high!
    UK food prices are rising at their fastest rate in 42 years as the cost of living crisis continues to squeeze household budgets.

    Food costs jumped 14.6% in the year to September – the biggest rise since 1980 – with bread, cereal, meat and dairy prices all climbing.

    It comes as people also struggle with higher energy and transport costs.

    Overall inflation – the rate at which UK prices rise – surged to 10.1% last month and is expected to climb further.

    The prices of most key items in the average household’s food shopping basket went up last month, including fish, sugar, fruit and rice, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

    Experts say the rise in the cost of groceries has been accelerated by the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted grain, oil and fertiliser supplies from the region.

    Food and drink prices have also been affected by the recent weakness in the pound, which has made imported products and ingredients more expensive.

    More>>>

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