Once again I’m really lucky to be able to share my blog with Professor Ivan Robertson, I hope you enjoy his post!
Professor Ivan Robertson
A new report by CIPD on Smart Working set me thinking about the big changes that are taking place in our workplaces. In particular, which ones are important, which are not? For example, globalisation and the latest technology are generally seen as good things, but they also mean that many people have to work long and unsociable hours to communicate with customers or colleagues in other countries.
In their report, the CIPD authors focus on several key areas which can drive smarter ways of working, such as job redesign and high performance work practices. They describe smart working as:
“An approach to organising work that aims to drive efficiency and effectiveness in achieving job outcomes through a combination of flexibility, autonomy and collaboration, in parallel with optimising tools and working environments for employees”.
According to the report the kinds of things that exemplify smart working include more flexible working practices (such as home-working and tele-working), increased autonomy and empowerment for employees, greater latitude in decision-making and more participation for employees. The report also makes it very clear that there is no single or simple collection of changes that move organisations smoothly towards smarter working practices.
So, we’d all probably agree that these are generally good things to be aiming for, but when we look around the workplace what should we make of new ways of working such as tele-working, empowerment and flexible working? Things are definitely changing, but maybe not as quickly as elsewhere. The Equal Opportunities Commission recently accused British companies of being among the least successful businesses in Europe in terms of flexible working practices and a study that they released last year showed that just 20 per cent of UK employers allowed workers to tele-work, compared with about 40 per cent in Germany, Sweden and Denmark. And apparently, flexi-time is available at only about 48 per cent of UK companies, compared with 90 per cent of German and Swedish employers. So maybe we haven’t come as far as we thought!
If we are lagging behind in terms of important changes in the workplace – that may help to explain the “productivity gap” between the UK and many other developed countries and also why the UK consistently is ranked low in worldwide and European Happiness Indices.
To find out more about the CIPD report go to: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/orgdevelmt/_smrtwrkgri.htm
