How connectivity & broadband will shape the population
This is an eye-opening piece about how connectivity and broadband will shape the future of not just work practices but the population flow –
Mobile giant Orange’s research shows that better access to both mobile and fixed line broadband could shape the workforce of the future.
Orange has created an interactive map of the country to pinpoint the connectivity hotspots of the future and work out how that will affect the next generation workforce.
Based on the mobile giant’s Connected Britain research, the interactive map went live today and highlights which areas of the UK could benefit from population growth thanks to their internet-based wealth. Conversely, it flags the areas that could see people leave in droves due to lack of mobile and fixed line broadband connectivity.
Indeed, the South West could see its population swell by a whopping 150 per cent by 2015, while Scotland and London’s head counts are set to grow by 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively, according to the research.
“Our research found that a digitally connected workforce could change the face of Britain as we know it,” said Robert Ainger, Orange’s director of corporate marketing, in a statement.
“Not only could the population itself shift, but the way we work could also fundamentally change. The interactive map means that visitors to the site can quickly check out their current location or somewhere else that takes their fancy, to see how things are likely to pan out there in future.â€
The map also showcases how each region fares when it comes to flexible working, which is generally interlinked with having the right technology in place.
Orange’s research suggested that businesses could save more than £30 billion by being a bit more savvy about the benefits of flexible working practices.
Orange maps UK’s future connectivity hotspots – Original Post by Maggie Holland
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Flexible Work In Government
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Governments in Europe and the States have been making a big push on the flexible work front over the last few years. Michelle Obama has put her pennies worth in and the Labour party in the UK has attempted to use it as a vote grabber with the middle-classes while simultaneously fending off cuddly Cameron.
Unfortunately, it seems that the UK government hasn’t practised what it’s preached with a recent report stating that only 14% of government systems are accessible remotely by civil servants.
I’m all for the British nuclear arsenal being kept behind closed doors and MI6 probably shouldn’t use WIFI at Starbucks but surely the government should take more of a lead when promoting flexible options.
Does it really matter if some civil servant from the education department works from home on their latest white paper? Is it really that hard to set up a secure connection to the department of transport?
Come on Gordon, or David I suppose, money – mouth.
Other Flexible Work In Government News…
Pre-Budget Report statement in full | News | Local Government …
As the global recession hit our country, we responded by bringing forward investment in vital infrastructure projects to protect jobs – and finding an additional £3bn to help people find new work quicker. … The Government’s flexible tax credits system has risen to the challenge of the downturn, delivering substantial support to families to compensate for this loss of pay. So far this year, because of tax credits 400000 families whose income has fallen have benefited …
REC urges government to protect the UK flexible labour market
The REC has now asked the government to ensure that forthcoming regulations do not have a negative impact on flexible working options within organisations. The REC has claimed that it’s also crucial for the government to recognise the …
Related Articles…
Please ‘share your thoughts’ on Flexible Work In Government
The Rise Of Flexible Work – Not
The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2009 Employee Benefits Survey found that 45 percent of surveyed employers offer telecommuting on an ad hoc basis as a benefit. About 34 percent offer telecommuting on a part-time basis and 19 percent offer telecommuting on a full-time basis as a benefit. Bullshit statistics.
The key word in that last paragraph was ‘offer’. I really don’t care how many employers ‘offer’ flexible work – I want to know how many people take them up on it. I then want to know the pay, time-off and chances of progression for those that work the flexi time offered.
It is not enough to simply offer flexible work as a carrot to entice top employees or improve the company’s public relations message. The whole corporate mentality has to shift from using it as a gimmick to actually seeing it as the way the 21st century will work. If business doesn’t embrace this change in society then society will change business – and any company still stuck in the 9-5 rut will lose its employees and its customers.
Today in Flexible Work:
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More than 70 percent of the job-hopping lawyers said their previous employer was not supportive of full-time flexible alternatives, while only 30 percent described their current employer as unsupportive of such arrangements. …
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They work long hours, yet can arrange a work schedule that starts earlier (in pajamas if desired), accommodates family time and is all around more flexible. It’s hard to hide from the office, but you are the boss. …
This is thanks to a large developed service market, part-time work and especially acceptance of flexible work with interim job placement bureaus …. all creating a very flexible labor market. Thus, it is much easier to balance supply …
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That’s your flexible work update for today.
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Flexible working increases productivity
Flexible working increases workers’ productivity, according to Rob Lovell, chief executive of ThinkGrid – a cloud IT services provider.
UK workers spend 21.8 million hours travelling to and from work each day.
This costs the UK £266 million worth of working time each day, according to TUC calculations.
But Lovell believes that technological developments in computing mean that people should be able to work from the place that suits them best – in the process removing hours of travel every day.
“With the ability to securely access documents and remotely collaborate on them in real-time, and with desktop and phone systems able to span the globe, there is no reason why a traditional five-day working week in the office should continue,” he said.
Allowing employees to work more flexibly could add extra time to their working day and remove a commute which might impact on their productivity, he added.
Research commissioned by the government recently revealed that 82% of adults are unaware that people who care for a spouse or relative can ask their employer for flexible working arrangements.
Government wants more part-time opportunities
The UK government has called on employers to offer more part-time employment opportunities to help working families.
Work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper said employers advertising full-time job vacancies through Jobcentre Plus should be encouraged to open those positions up to job sharers and part-time workers.
The government was also thought to be considering extending flexible working laws to enable women to ask future – not just current – employers if they can work flexible hours.
But sources close to business secretary Peter Mandelson said the department had “no plans” to change the laws.
Cooper told the Observer that more “good quality part-time jobs” were needed, both for lone parents expected to seek work under the government’s planned welfare reforms and more broadly for many other working parents.
Steve Pritchard, co-founder of hiremyparents.com, said: “We welcome any extention to flexible working legislation but I can’t see how requesting flexible hours from a potential employer would not be detrimental to any application. I would think it far easier and less harmful to an application if employers were forced to state the level of flexibility available within a job description. If a vacancy was actually promoted as flexible then far more experienced professionals would apply and the parameters of job flexibility would be understood by all parties.”
The Government is also said to be setting up a database of new part-time jobs and a new taskforce is to look at ways of boosting part-time jobs. The moves are said to be part of an attempt to appeal to working mums in the run-up to an election. However, it is reported that the plans have not been presented yet to business secretary Peter Mandelson and that his department had no plans to extend flexible working rights.
