December 04, 2006 - NORTH EAST TO PIONEER SMARTER WORKING
The North East will become the first region in the UK to stage a regional Work Wise initiative, which aims to consign 9 to 5, five days a week, to history. This will enable the North East to build further on its significant improvement in the UK Competitiveness Index, published by the Work Foundation last month.
Work Wise North East will promote the wider adoption of smarter working practices, such as flexible working, mobile working, remote working and working from home, tailoring the national Work Wise UK initiative, a major five-year programme which was launched in May with broad government, business and union support, to the North East.
Even a limited change in working practices and culture will lead to increased business productivity and competitiveness, reduce transport congestion and pollution, improve health, assist disadvantaged groups, and harmonise work and family commitments.
Work Wise North East is being supported by all the key organisations in the region including One NorthEast, Government Office for the North East (GONE), CBI, TUC, North East Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, Northern Business Forum, Engineering Employers Federation North, Women into the Network, Travelwise and BT.
Jonathan Blackie, regional director, GONE, said: "I welcome this opportunity for the North East to lead the way with this excellent campaign. This gives us a real chance to demonstrate how working smarter, thinking about where and how and when we work can lead to further increases to our region's productivity whilst allowing us a better focus on our work life balance and at the same time considering the impacts on our environment.”
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, said: “In this increasingly competitive global market, working 9 to 5, five days a week, at a central location is a rigid work structure which is largely dictated by culture.
“It is actually wasteful in terms of time and resources, damaging in terms of the environmental impact, harmful in that it impacts upon stress levels and health, and is actually largely unnecessary considering the technology available today.
“Work Wise North East aims to break down archaic traditions and make the North East one of the most progressive regions in the UK.”
The North East has seen the number of people working from home grow by over 56 per cent since 1999. Almost 50,000 workers – nearly 5 per cent of the working population – are now based at or regularly work from home. The region has seen nearly 17,000 new home workers since 1999, with Tyne and Wear experiencing the second largest level of growth in the UK at 1.8 per cent, almost twice the national average of 1.0 per cent. The UK average for home working is 5.1 percent of the working population, with 59.9 per cent of self-employed people working from home. The average split between the sexes is 69 per cent male to 31 per cent female.
Working from home, even for part of the working week, would greatly enhance people’s work-life balance. The reduction in travel alone could save several hours per day, freeing up time to spend at home with the family or on leisure activities. British workers spend by far the longest time travelling in Europe – as much as 47 working days per year (Samsung research 2004).
Kevin Rowan, TUC regional secretary, said: "Flexible working and other innovative working practices offer a wide range of opportunities for workers and businesses, as well as for the regional economy as a whole.”
"The Northern Business Forum is totally committed to the launch of the Work Wise campaign in the region,” said chairman Alistair Arkley. “We support the broader use of smarter working as a modern day approach to working life. There is strong business case to be made - it can improve productivity and employee retention and it can also offer a wide range of environmental and social benefits. It's a benefit - not a cost to business.”
Simon Roberson, BT regional manager, said: "Thanks to our flexible working policy BT has 20 per cent less absenteeism than the national average, 99 per cent of our employees on maternity leave return to work, and we save 12 million litres of car fuel every year. I'm delighted that Work Wise North East will help bring these benefits to everyone in the region."
The Work Wise North East programme of activities will be announced in the New Year.
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Notes to editors:
- A number of spokespersons are available for interview and comment. Please contact the media team below.
- Work Wise UK is being organised by the IT Forum Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.
- A number of cartoons are also available: please go to the here to download in print quality, or contact the press office below.
- Further information about Work Wise UK can be found on the website www.workwiseuk.org.
- A dedicated electronic news room has been established for journalists to obtain further information, to download print-quality materials, and to register for media updates about Work Wise UK. This can be accessed either through the main website or directly at www.pressrooms.net/workwiseuk.
- Supporters of the Work Wise UK campaign include the CBI, TUC, the British Chambers of Commerce, BT, Scope, the RAC Foundation, Technology Means Business and Henley Management College.
For information about Work Wise North East, please contact:
Roy Turner, Chelgate PR, on 020 7939 7939, 07970 522232 or rt@chelgate.com