Introducing initiatives that allow for flexible working and a greater work/life balance could be key to workplace productivity, says Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for Group Risk Development, this Work Wise Week.
Work Wise Week 2015, running from 31st May to 6th June, aims to promote “smarter” working practices such as remote and mobile working. Now in its 10th year, the campaign is focusing on working from home, promoting Working from Home Day on Friday 5th June as a way of maximising productivity by reducing the negative impact of travel.
Katharine Moxham said:
“Lack of productivity in the workplace not only hurts the business bottom line, but is also a major headache for the economy. In the UK, faced with ageing populations and slowing employment growth, productivity has not improved in eight years, and living standards suffer as a result.
“It can be helped. Implementing simple initiatives for flexible working, health and wellbeing and a good work/life balance can have a huge impact – from staff retention to general performance.
“We know this is happening – currently more than a third (35%) of employers put a good work/life balance as their top health and wellbeing priority, while 27 percent have introduced flexible working initiatives to meet the needs of ageing workers – but there is always more to be done. Sickness absence in the workplace resulted in 131 million lost days in the UK during 2013 alone, and while lack of agile working initiatives won’t always necessarily lead to staff absence, it can be costly for employers to take their eye off the ball.”
Find out more about Work Wise Week here.
Steff joined the HRreview editorial team in November 2014. A former event coordinator and manager, Steff has spent several years working in online journalism. She is a graduate of Middlessex University with a BA in Television Production and will complete a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Westminster in the summer of 2015.
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