Olympics set to create flexible working legacy

Flexible working could be just one aspect of the Olympic legacy, after businesses saw positive results during the Games, ibitimes.co.uk reports. London has been hailed as the first host city to attempt to create a legacy in the wake of the Games to promote British sporting and business prowess on the world stage. It might not just be sports and business that could end upbenefiting from the legacy, however, but flexible working as well – with SME IT support available to ensure even the smallest firms can get on board. Fearful that their employees would struggle to get into work during the busiest periods of the Games, many London firms encouraged their staff to work from home. The schemes proved to be successful and have now promoted the notion of flexible working to a brand new business audience. This new-found popularity could then turn into a long-term solution, with mobile network Vodafone finding in a study that almost a quarter of businesses in the capital not only changed their typical working arrangements, but saw increased productivity as well. Now, over half of the businesses surveyed said they had flexible working procedures in place, or are open to setting them up in the future. Speaking to ukauthority.com about the results, the commercial marketing director at Vodafone UK, Peter Boucher, explained: “It is not surprising that the events of the last two weeks are emerging as a turning point in the way Britain is working. “For employers and their staff, this has been a ‘taster’ for a different way of doing business. Many will have found that this can be just as effective – and often more so – than the traditional nine-to-five at your office desk.”