With many Londoners struggling to get into work earlier this week due to the Tube strikes, the importance of remote working has once again risen to the front of mind.
Phoebe Leet, Head of HR Operations, Cisco UK & Ireland suggested that ‘the office’ is a state of mind and remote access is the way forward for many employees: “Work should be an activity, not a place. High-speed IP networks have enabled a new generation of collaborative technologies – from life-size, HD video conferencing systems to laptop-based video and collaboration tools. These allow employees to work from home as productively as they can in the office as well as reducing the business’ costs and carbon footprint by eliminating the need to travel.
Ms Leet went on to explain how remote access works well in her organisation: “At Cisco, we make every effort to give our employees the tools they need to work remotely and flexibly. While this is hugely beneficial during unexpected events such as this week’s tube strikes or the ashcloud problems earlier in the year, it isn’t something that just comes into play during extreme circumstances. A recent in-house survey showed that, on average, 63 percent of our employees’ working time is spent communicating and collaborating with as much as 56 percent of all employees’ work accomplished away from their desks.
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“With ever more businesses realising the value of remote working tools, both in terms of increasing productivity and improving work-life balance, hopefully the problems caused by these disruptions will soon be a thing of the past.”
