Speaking at an event to promote Anywhere Working Week, which will be happening between 18th and 22nd of March, general manager for the public sector at Microsoft Nicole Hodson said the company had made massive savings by implementing flexible working into its employment strategies.
"We have found the payback to be a 240 percent internal rate of return and we saved $212 million (£140 million) in the first year,” she told Computer World UK.
Ms Hodson cited Wakefield Council, which has introduced a programme that has reduced the amount of office space used by 44 per cent. This has enabled it to save £225,000 in transport fees annually, reducing absences in the process.
Telecommunications network O2, has also changed the way its employees work. The company recently revealed a report showing the disconnect between employers' perceptions of what flexibility they are providing and what the actual employees feel they are being offered.
O2 business director Ben Dowd said: "The changes we’ve seen at O2 since our flexible working pilot speak for themselves. In just one month our staff saved 100,000 miles of commuting, 30 tonnes of CO2, and £20,000 in fuel – and productivity when flexi-working has doubled."
Transport minister Norman Baker MP, who also spoke at the event, told Computer World UK that if flexible and home working is to become more accepted, big businesses would need to back it more.
If big businesses such as Microsoft and O2 continue to show how much money they are saving thanks to introducing flexible working practices, then more businesses will take note and begin to implement their own strategies.
Anywhere Working is a consortium of organisations including Microsoft, Nokia and Transport for London, which joined to promote the benefits of flexible working. The Anywhere Working Week aims to encourage organisations to reconsider the way they work.
Businesses looking into implementing a more flexible working programme could make use of personnel scheduling software to draw up times when staff are to work from home or in the office.
