April 2003
Flexible Working Practices at N W Group and Thorpe Molloy
Recruitment ahead of government targets
As reported in last month’s Business Bulletin, from 6 April 2003 many people will have access to a new way of working under the Employment Act 2002. The new legislation, which employers will have a statutory duty to consider seriously, will give the UK’s four million parents of children under six and 200,000 parents of disabled children aged under 18 the right to apply to work flexibly.
Eligible employees will be able to request a change of the hours they work, a change to the hours they work, a change to the times when they are required to work, and the option to work from home.
A number of organisations (large and small) have already considered the implications of offering flexible working initiatives including Aberdeen based N W Group, an e-business and graphics company, and Thorpe Molloy Recruitment, a specialist recruitment consultancy with offices in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
Neil Watson, Managing Director of N W Group, first identified the need for flexible working in 1992, when he set up his own virtual office – some 11 years ahead of the government’s new legislation – after being involved in a car accident which resulted in him working part-time for two years.
“It was vital that I was able to remain involved with the day to day running of the business as it was in the early stages of development,” says Neil. “My best option was to work remotely from home and I was able to do this by using Apple Talk Remote Access, an early version of the Virtual Office Solution that N W Group has developed for other companies today.”
“At N W Group we have used our own experience to develop the Virtual Office Solution, an internet based package which can benefit both the employee and our business.” says Neil. “Sarah Webb, one of our key employees, now uses this product to work from home a couple of days a week, an arrangement which works very well for both of us as Sarah has access at home to the same information and technology as our office-based employees.”
Thorpe Molloy Recruitment’s Manager, Amanda Robb, is familiar with the working practices of various companies in the Aberdeen area. “Many businesses are already using flexible working policies to attract and retain the best people. Such initiatives can help to increase staff morale and reduce turnover and absenteeism. They can also help businesses to boost productivity and efficiency by saving on office overheads and resources.”
“Achieving a work-life balance is becoming increasingly important to workers. Sixty eight per cent said they would like to work flexi-time if the needs arose, when questioned in a recent DTI survey.”
“This is also reflected at Thorpe Molloy Recruitment,” says Amanda. “Many of our candidates tell us that flexible working is important to them and therefore the company is currently trailing a flexi-pass scheme, which rewards staff who met their targets with additional time off.”
“Like other organisations, we are happy to trial schemes that will promote happier, more productive workers,” says Amanda. “However, as the recruitment industry is traditionally an out-of-hours one involving long hours, this makes it very difficult to operate the full flexi working schemes that some of the larger company schemes are able to offer, but it doesn’t make it impossible. Business continuity is very important to a recruitment business such as Thorpe Molloy Recruitment and although we wouldn’t rule out flexible working in some form in the future we need to ensure that it matches the goals of our business, clients, candidates and employees.”
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