December 04, 2006 - GREEN TRANSPORT GROUP BACKS CALL FOR WORKPLACE REVOLUTION
“The solution is obvious: smarter working reduces the need to travel, which will reduce congestion.”
The Association for Commuter Transport (ACT) is the latest organisation to pledge its support to Work Wise UK, the national campaign to promote smarter ways of working to improve people’s work-life balance and their productivity.
ACT, which promotes the business benefits of sustainable travel initiatives, joins the CBI, TUC, BT, British Chambers of Commerce, RAC Foundation and Scope as partners of Work Wise UK. Its aim is to encourage a workplace revolution, empowering 14 million people, half the population, to have the opportunity of smarter working, such as flexible working, working from home, mobile and remote working, by 2011.
The adoption of smarter working, with people regularly working from home, from remote locations or while on the move, reducing the necessity to travel back to central office locations, results in an overall reduction in the need to travel. Dr Colin Black, chairman of ACT, said: “The aims of Work Wise UK complement the objectives of ACT to improve access to travel alternatives and in doing so help reduce our dependency on the car.
“Increasingly, leading businesses are adopting smarter working practices which assist in both attracting new and retaining existing staff, whilst demonstrating improvements in productivity. The benefits are most obvious when the smarter working practices are pulled together in a strategy, usually called a travel plan.
“Employers quickly learn that their employees are willing to adopt travel alternatives if they provide support and help make it easier, for example by providing facilities for storing bicycles, showers and changing facilities, and making sure that parking is managed on a ‘needs’ basis..
“Reducing the need for travel is a fundamental component of an effective travel plan. The full business benefits will only be achieved if smarter working practices are implemented in parallel. This is why ACT has become a partner with Work Wise UK.”
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, has noted that the transport and environmental benefits of smarter working are being seen as equally important as the work-life balance and productivity improvements. He said: “It is obvious that traffic congestion and over-crowding on public transport are high on the public agenda, especially in major urban areas. Environmental considerations, and not just noise and pollution but also impact on global warming, are also coming into the public’s consciousness.
“The road charging proposals introduced by the Eddington Report last week as a way to reduce traffic congestion completely miss the opportunity to address this issue through smarter working. The solution is obvious: smarter working reduces the need to travel, which will reduce congestion.”
Further details about Work Wise UK can be found on the website (www.workwiseuk.org). There is also a dedicated pressroom available through the website or directly at www.pressrooms.net/workwiseuk.
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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, please contact:
Roy Turner, Chelgate PR, on 020 7939 7939, 07970 522232 or rt@chelgate.com
Michael Hardware, Chelgate PR, 020 7939 7939 or 07775 925 274 or meh@chelgate.com