The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has joined business and other organisations in signing the Work WIse UK flexible working concordat. Signatories have made a commitment to adopt smaerter working practices in house and EEDA also aims to encourage businesse across the East of England to follow suit.

"From flexitime to working at home, smarter working processes can have a positive impact on a business businesses productivity , the social aspects of work, the environment and even regional transport infrastructure" said an EEDA spokesman. Pictured at the signing ceremony are, form the left, Annett Thorpe (British Telecom), Bill Mossman (Business Link), Jan Pinkerton (EEDA), Adam Le Gresley (Work Wise UK).

For Presentations from the meeting click here

EEDA's recently launched Business IT Guide, which has been produced as part of its takeITon campaign, also explains some of the benefits behind home working for both employers and employees. It can be viewed at www.takeiton.org.uk

Thursday 15th May was National Work from Home Day when up to five million people are estimated to have worked from home across the UK.

According to TUC research, the East of England has the second highest level of people working from home in the UK, a total that has grown by 28 per cent in the last decade.

Nearly 400,000 workers - 14.4 per cent of the regional working population - are now based at or usually work from home. If figures for employed people who are normally or permanently based at home, but not self-employed, are analysed, the East of England has seen a massive 45 per cent increase over the same period. MORE

As part of the UK-Wide Work Wise Campaign, we are continuing to expand the regional and devolved adminstration programme and are now looking for progressive organisations in the East of England to become Strategic Partners of Work Wise East.

This vanguard group will be tasked with developing a programme of activities to share best practice and seek opportunities for joint working, as well as promoting the benefits of smarter working to other businesses and organisations across the East of England. The group will also lobby and work to address the challenges facing the East of England and to alleviate the blockages to the adoption of smarter working, whether they are technological, cultural, skills or infrastructure, related.

Regional programmes including Work Wise London, Work Wise North East and others have already been established and we are now calling for public and private sector enterprise to help lead the programme to encourage the adoption of smarter working practices in this region. This regional initiative will feed into Work Wise UK and its new Centre of Excellence and partner organisations will not only be able to benefit from shared best practice but also by becoming key influencers in the regional adoption of smarter working practices.  

If you want advice on how your organisation can  work smarter, Work Wise UK provides a list of accredited Work Wise Advisers, who can help you plan and execute your next steps, at whatever stage of the journey you are on.

If you would be interested in submitting a case study on how your organisation has benefited from smarter working or would like to become a Vanguard Group Partner, please contact us.

If you would like to consider committing to smarter working, and to sign the concordat, please let us have your details by completing the online form.

To view the entire concordat as a pdf, click here

To view the list of organisations, who have already signed the concordat click here