SMARTER WORKING BEATS STRESS

SMARTER WORKING practices can beat stress, aid healthy living and can help people achieve a work-life balance, say the TUC who are backing the Work Wise campaign both nationally and regionally.
The TUC and other Work Wise partners are urging all employers to think seriously about implementing flexible working practices to help their employees achieve a better lifestyle.
Kevin Rowan, regional secretary of the TUC said: "The world of work is an inherently different environment and it needs to be - change is often a positive process making businesses better and improving the quality of life for our workers.
"Our work environment is very different - we are living longer in an increasingly 24/7 culture, with a labour market in which employers are finding it difficult in attracting and retaining good staff.
"This places new demands on our workers who often need to combine long working hours with caring responsibilities.
"Flexible working is one of the strategies that can be adopted to cope with this new working environment, enabling people to juggle work and caring commitments more easily, varying working hours to suit people for whom 9 to 5 full time working weeks are simply not practical. Introducing home working, remote working and job sharing, are all ideas which can suit employees and employers.

"From a worker's point of view, these initiatives can facilitate a much better work-life balance.  There is ample experience of people leaving the labour market altogether following the birth of a child, or due to demands of caring for an older relative. 
This proves a costly loss for the individual as well as for the employer who has to pick up the additional costs of recruiting and training a new member of staff" explained Rowan.

The Work Wise campaigners say that the debate over how employees manage to balance their working and home loves is not just concerned with parents - other employees also have caring duties.  One in six people aged 16 or over care for a sick disabled or elderly person - 6.8million carers in the Uk and this is expected to rise to 22% within the next five years.   Other employees may have other commitments or interests whereby the ability to work more flexibly would increase their job satisfaction and loyalty.

Simon Roberson, chairman of Work Wise North East said and regional manager BT said: "Our long working hours culture, fixed around a 9 to 5 day working at a central location, wastes time and reduces the freedom for people to develop a life beyond work. However, this is largely unnecessary. Through smarter working people have more control over their lives, allowing more time for family or simply just enjoying life."
One aspect of working life where smarter working can particularly offer a solution is cutting stress caused by commuting: "Workers in the UK commute on average 47 working days per year. This is almost an extra working day per week", explained Roberson
 "Smarter working can reduce the stress of commuting by reducing the number of journeys, through for example working from home, while flexible working allows people to stagger their travel outside peak periods."

Ray Smith, regional director of BT North East said: "Thanks to our flexible working policy BT has 20 per cent less absenteeism than the national average, 99 per cent of our employees on maternity leave return to work, and we save 12 million litres of car fuel every year.  Work Wise North East will help bring these benefits to everyone in the region."

Work Wise North East has attracted wide-ranging support from leading organisations in the region.  Strategic partners include EEF, North East Chamber of Commerce, Onyx Group, RBLI, Workplace Travel Plan Company, Dickinson Dees, and BT.

Work Wise was launched nationally in May 2006 with the objective of half the working population having the opportunity of adopting working practices by 2011. Flexible working introduces new challenges to employers, but the benefits are enormous.  The message is clear: work smarter, work better, work wise!
Further details about Work Wise UK can be found on the website (www.workwiseuk.org).

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For information about Work Wise North East, please contact:
Shelia Chapman, Sheila Chapman PR 07732 827 486 or scpr@btopenworld.com

For further information about the national Work Wise campaign, please contact: Roy Turner, Chelgate PR 020 7939 7939 or 07970 522232 or rt@chelgate.com

Notes to editors:

• A number of spokespersons are available for interview and comment. Please contact Sheila Chapman at contact details below
• Work Wise UK is organized by the IT Forum Foundation, a not-for-profit organization.
• Further information about Work Wise UK can be found on the website www.workwiseuk.org.
• A dedicated electronic media centre has been established for journalists to obtain further information, to download print-quality materials, and to register for media updates about Work Wise UK. This can be accessed either through the main website or directly at www.pressrooms.net/workwiseuk.