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What is flexible working?
Over the next 20 years the nature of work will have changed dramatically and flexibility will be the keyword. For much of the 20th century, communication technologies, construction practices and business processes dictated a world of work which was largely inflexible, fixed in time, place and space, and confined to scientifically managed office buildings. Today new technologies, practices and processes related to working life are achieving the effect of uncoupling work from the office.
Flexible work means working in a range of different locations, on different tasks, at different times. And the trend is growing. According to the Henley Centre for Forecasting, homeworking will increase to more than 30% of the UK workforce by 2006. Meanwhile, in the USA there are already an estimated 11 million teleworkers and 31 million mobile workers. With the trend in temporary work increasing - Manpower is currently one of the world's largest employers - not only are offices having to adjust to the influx of short-term workers, but temporary staff are having to adjust quickly to new organisation styles and culture.
What is driving the trend towards more flexible working?
Companies are striving for greater efficiency
- Companies want to restructure to be more competitive and responsive and to control costs - flexible working enables property costs to be rationalised and a less hierarchical, more cognitive and team-based approach to be introduced
Corporate structures are changing
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 Within offices, the use of geographical territory to denote corporate status is being replaced by more shared facilities and a focus on business agility
Environmental concern is forcing change
- Legislative pressure on pollution emissions, especially the1990 Clean Air Act in the US , has made employers rethink car commuting and introduce more home-based work
- Rush hour congestion - on roads, trains and tubes - is driving many people to look for more civilised alternatives
New knowledge systems are evolving
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 New business processes are placing more emphasis on sharing and building knowledge and less on linear processing of information
Significant demographic change is affecting work patterns
- Demographic change, especially the rise of women returners and an ageing population, is forcing employers to introduce more flexible employment
- Social change to family and household structures is leading to new demands to balance home and work life more equitably
Technology is enabling enormous flexibility
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 New communication technology, which is becoming smaller and cheaper, is enabling flexible work patterns by providing connectivity from remote locations and instant data transfer
- Web-based innovation and e-commerce are reshaping the landscape of work, with virtual work communities emerging
Key issues
In broad terms, what sort of social issues does flexible working create?
How can people reorganise their homes and their home life to accommodate the rise in work at home?
- According to the Royal College of Art WORK@home research programme, in Britain, at least one employer in ten today employs some form of
 home-based worker and an estimated two million people now work wholly or partially at home. This includes 1.2 million professional teleworkers - around 4.5% of the working population - who work via computer and telephone and a 'hidden' workforce of up to 800,000 home workers mainly doing clerical, assembly and manual work on piecework rates.
How can people keep in touch with base, friends and family; collaborate with colleagues; and, work effectively from a range of different public settings?
- According to OAG Worldwide's Business Travel Lifestyle Survey 1999, business travellers are making more trips (21 a year on average) involving more nights away (48 nights a year) than ever before. The survey canvassed 3,000 business travellers worldwide.
How can organisations replan office space, time and facilities to
accommodate more random and flexible patterns of work?
- According to a University of Dundee study of 3,000 office employees on interior environmental problems at work, one fifth of UK offices currently fail to provide an adequate work environment. The study reveals a direct link between job satisfaction and workplace design, revealing problems in layout and existing design methodology related to interpersonal communication.
  
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