Dynamic Work : working families

Missing the First Pitch

brucelynn — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:13:28 GMT

The Washington Post carried a poignant illustration of the more subtle, but very palpable social costs fixed work schedules which not only constrain family coordination, but also concentrate use of shared community resources, namely roads. It described in detail the challenges of families sharing a simple activity of school sports.

“Late-arriving parents and coaches show up in suits instead of shorts, their hands clutching BlackBerrys instead of mitts. Kids, who wear their uniforms to school and can imagine nothing as terrible as a rainy day, are robbed of pregame practices and must wait to play until as late as 7:30 at night -- almost a half-hour after the first pitch is thrown out for Nationals games at RFK Stadium. The children's games end at or past bedtime, leaving little room for homework and -- worse to Little Leaguers -- the traditional after-game trip for pizza or ice cream. And leagues struggle to sign up coaches, volunteers and umpires who can commit to arriving on time.”

Dynamic Working Mums

brucelynn — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:02:00 GMT

Dynamic Work is all about preserving key assets: economic resources, environmental resources and social resources. Concerning the lattermost, Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent at The Daily Mail, has been running a number of pieces on attitudes and trends in two income families.

The entry of women in the workplace in the post-war era has been one of the major drivers of productivity gains of the twentieth century. Women have brought contributions to the economy, new opportunities for achievement and satisfaction for themselves, as well as higher living standards to their families. Doughty’s article “Number of stay-at-home mums drops 25pc in 15 years as they become 'a luxury'” highlights how much the trend has continued unabated in recent years half a century and two generations since Rosie the Riveter.

But these gains have not been with out their costs. Doughty’s piece “'Superwoman is a myth' say modern women because 'family life suffers with working mums'” highlights the stresses and trade-offs inherent in juggling work and home life. He quotes Professor Jacqueline Scott of Cambridge University: 'Some people are now starting to have second thoughts. In most cases, this appears to revolve around concerns that the welfare of children and the family are being compromised the more women spend their time at work.'

Innovative approaches to Dynamic Work is going to be one of the keys to bridging the gap between the demands for even further growth of two income families and the counter balancing demands for maintaining a healthy family life and household.

BT Workstyle

brucelynn — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:30:42 GMT

Speaking of partners, whitepapers and workstyles, BT has published a sterling case study on its own Flexible Working web site called ‘Sustainability through Flexible working - BT Workstyle’.

“Happier BT people are enjoying a better work life balance. BT home workers are taking 63 per cent less sick leave than their office-based colleagues. The retention rate following maternity leave stands at 99 percent compared with a UK average of 47 percent, saving BT an additional €7.4 million a year. In terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) BT is avoiding the purchase of approximately 12 million litres of fuel per year, resulting in 54,000 tonnes less CO2 being generated in the UK. Teleconferencing has eliminated the annual need for over 300,000 face-to-face meetings, leading to savings of over €38.6 million a year. This has also removed the need for over 1.5 million return journeys – saving BT people the equivalent of 1,800 years commuting – with further environmental benefits.”

Anyone still wondering about the business benefits of flexible working? The rest of the BT Insights page is full of white papers, other cases, presentations, brochures for reference.

Dynamic Dragon

brucelynn — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:17:15 GMT

The emerging realisation of business benefits to flexible work is being touted by one of the champions of emerging businesses, Dragons Den’s James Caan in last month’s Sunday Times piece titled “Technology is the key to cutting your overheads”. The sub-title goes on to assert, “The television dragon says you can find much more efficient ways of working”.

His article takes the words right out of my mouth – the power of technology, the cost benefits of flexible working, the recruitment and morale dividend, and the scrutiny over investing in physical offices…

“Some options won’t suit some businesses, but it is important nonetheless to embrace new technology to improve performance. Areas to consider might be the introduction of flexible working, outsourcing or simply better time management – all made possible by improved IT.”

If you employ 50 to 100 staff, consider the savings that could be made by introducing flexible working for 5%-10% of your employees. In return for providing them with a laptop and broadband connection you will reduce the cost of housing them in the building and the associated running costs. With advanced communication systems, an employee can be physically relocated but certainly not isolated in any way from the day-to-day operation of the business.

This level of flexibility might give you access to a different spectrum of employees, such as those who don’t wish to commute, or mothers returning to work. Flexible working might also increase productivity by allowing people to focus on specific projects, by improving time management and by generally raising staff morale through a better work-life balance…

As an investor in numerous businesses, I am able to use technology to increase the cost-effective opportunities. To help one recent acquisition secure customers all over the country, I established 10 virtual offices in leading cities across the land. Historically, I would have had to take on property, staff and significant running costs in 10 locations to present the market with the same company profile.

Today the use of virtual office facilities – a prestigious address with a mail-forwarding service and exclusive telephone number with call/message forwarding provided by a dedicated team – has created an immediate national presence without high overheads. Using this technology to present a national – or even global – operation to your customer base will cost as little as £100 a month for each virtual office. Compare this with the costs and time invested in running your “physical” offices, where the only extra value gained is the ability to interact with other employees – all other functions can now be serviced through technology.”

Technorati Tags: flexible work, IT, virtual office, broadband, working families

Who is Driving

brucelynn — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:15:00 GMT

Given these drivers (energy, climate, social, intellectual), there are a number core constituencies who have an acute interest in these considerations and who will be on the vanguard to driving for change.

Energy/Climate: Public Policy is increasingly re-examining the rules and assumptions of the 21^st century economy with energy supply and climate change in mind. Tax incentives and penalties are being introduced to reduce carbon footprints especially from motor vehicles.

Social: Women/Families – Pressures at breaking points are driving people to demand greater flexibility in working practices (eg. hours, locations) in order to juggle it all. One organisation at the forefront of these reforms is Working Families.

Knowledge work: Top Talent – The constituency with the most to gain by reducing brain dead commute time are those for whose hour of concentrated knowledge work has the highest valuation, ie. professionals with scarce skills. More specifically it is the highest performers. Not only is their domain expertise scare, but their exceptional competency is even more scarce.