Supporting the launch of Work Wise UK, we have introduced a mark of excellence, which will assess the effectiveness and deployment of flexible and remote working practises within the UK workforce.
One of the principal objectives of Work Wise UK is to increase the number of people working flexibly in the UK from 3.1m to 14m in 5 years starting in 2006. Most of this improvement will be brought about by management of organisations taking a lead in the strategic deployment of different working methods.
Organisations wishing to gain the standard will be assessed according to criteria that benchmark their adoption of flexible working practices. Awards against the Work Wise standard will be based on the amount of flexibility for the workforce, the levels of self-determination that employees have and operational benefits derived by the organisation.
There is a clear expectation that the process of assessment will help that organisation reflect on current practise and generate new ideas for improved quality of service and quality of working life.
The standard will apply to both public and private sector organisations irrespective of their size and was launched in 2007 at the Work Wise UK Summit by Sir Digby Jones.
Work Wise UK will make available information, case studies and other materials to assist organisations reviewing working practices and implementing flexible working and will also promote the adoption of new techniques and technologies.
Organisations will be asked to provide evidence of working practices, which will be subject to evaluation by a Work Wise Assessor.
Assessment is on a three-year rolling programme and will guide the organisation to plan further improvements. This will be supported by feedback from staff on the degrees of flexibility that exist in their workplace.
Specifically, organisations will have to demonstrate how smarter working impacts on
- Operational benefits
- Client benefits
- Employee benefits
- Change management
- Legal aspects
- Transport and environment
- Healthy Workplace
and will be signposted to resources that can help staff at all levels in to organisation question how they work and identify improvements in flexibility.
Organisations will develop, through the process of assessment, an action plan that leads the operation to focus on increasing levels of smarter working, and considering the change management and legal issues that are fundamental to success.
A more detailed overview is available in a pdf document available here
For more information about the Work Wise Standard please contact Adam Le Gresley at adam@workwiseuk.org