Brothers in arms

2 February 2007

It's not every day that the TUC and the CBI see eye to eye, so when they start issuing joint statements about workplace revolutions it's probably worth paying attention. Last week's agreement to encourage smarter working practices is a case in point.

Here at Webster Buchanan Research, we've long argued that entrepreneurs would do well to think about the terms they employ their people on. In an era where skills shortages are the norm, employees have a lot of choice - and flexibility is an attractive perk. The employer who lets a younger person start work late or a parent go home early is likely to get much more luck on the recruitment front than a stickler for traditional hours. Likewise, encouraging people to work from home two or three days a week to cut down their commute could make a big difference to your retention rates.

It's not just about keeping employees happy, of course. The maths are also pretty simple when you start totting up the cost of property. If you assume that people spend eight hours a day in the office (ok, it's a start-up, call it 10-12 hours) you've already got desk space sitting idle for more than half the time. Worse, even when they're in the office, part of the time they'll be in meetings, eating lunch, seeing clients or hanging out in the kitchen. Whatever they're doing, it's certainly not contributing to the effective use of space - and space costs money (see ' Flexible Friends'.

All of which helps explain why Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, and Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, found themselves on the same side of the table last week announcing a 'concordat' supporting the Work Wise UK campaign, a five-year long not-for-profit initiative promoting the likes of flexible working and home-working. And according to yesterday's edition of Human Resources magazine, they're not alone: a separate research initiative is underway specifically looking at the impact of flexible working on small and mid-sized businesses.

All of which suggests that if you're not thinking about flexible employment terms for your employees, now may be a good time to start. Doing it today may give you competitive edge - not doing it tomorrow may lose you good people.

By Keith Rodgers, Webster Buchanan Research