Welcome to Commute Smart Week 2016 from Phil Flaxton - Chief Executive of Work Wise UK

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Welcome to Commute Smart Week 2016 from Phil Flaxton - Chief Executive of Work Wise UK

The dark mornings and evenings are with us again and Winter is on its way so, it’s time for me to launch Commute Smart Week, which start’s our annual campaign to raise the awareness of implementing smarter ways of commuting during the winter months.

Throughout the week, we will publish a series of guest blogs from some of our strategic partners as well as the heads of organisations who will share their views and knowledge on the way we commute.

Commuting for long periods of time has become a part of the UK’s working culture. The excessive time spent commuting is one of the main factors involved in the work-life balance issue. Not only is the amount of time commuting an issue, the 9 to 5 culture with its peak travel times generates congestion on railways, underground and road networks and as a consequence, increases stress for commuters.

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Guest blog: Get rid of your paper clutter - By Andrew Boswell, who is a Programme Director with more than 40 years experience in IT and Telecoms.

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Guest blog: Get rid of your paper clutter - By Andrew Boswell, who is a Programme Director with more than 40 years experience in IT and Telecoms.

Do you see piles of paper everywhere? On your desk, beside your bed, on the kitchen table? Are you thinking about buying a bigger bag?

I can help you. It’s time to fight back.

Grab a couple of hours, right away. It might be a pain, but at the end of it you’ll feel a lot better.

Step 1: Gather loose paper

Find a big, empty table to work on. Gather all your loose paper. Letters, memos, reports, receipts, bills, whatever. Not only the piles you can see around you, but also look in your purse or wallet, and in your briefcase or laptop bag. Don’t forget post-it notes stuck on the walls or on your computer screen.

Put them all in one huge pile. Then away we go…

Step 2: TRAF

TRAF stands for Trash, Refer, Action, File.

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Guest blog: Smarter Meetings - By Andrew Boswell who is a Programme Director with more than 40 years experience in IT and Telecomms.

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Guest blog: Smarter Meetings - By Andrew Boswell who is a Programme Director with more than 40 years experience in IT and Telecomms.

Working smarter can do a lot for your own productivity and life style. But working with your colleagues can become even more of a challenge if you are at home or far away from them. So it is vital that the time you spend with them in meetings is well spent.

I’ve worked in lots of big companies over the years. All are very different, but they do have one thing in common – they all spend a huge amount of time in meetings. They love them! They think nothing of arranging a 4 hour meeting attended by 30 people. That’s 120 man-hours nobody will get back. If the meeting is weekly, 10% of the week has gone for ever.

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Guest blog: "The pros and cons of working from home abroad" - By Annette Morris, Digital Marketing Consultant, LaFranglaiseWeb.

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Guest blog: "The pros and cons of working from home abroad" - By Annette Morris, Digital Marketing Consultant, LaFranglaiseWeb.

For some, the ultimate work-life balance is working from home while living abroad. Research by Bergerac Airport, in South-West France, found almost one in five British residents in the region were commuting back to work in the UK.  With the ever increasing speed and consistency (for some people this can be more important than speed) of internet connectivity, a seamless connection to the office server can be within anyone's reach.  Even in the wilds of Lozère (the least populated area in France), a Satellite dish will instantly connect you with the office via video call, phone, email or VOIP. 

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Chairman's blog: Brexit or Nexit - Productivity remains the key - By David Lennan, Chairman of Work Wise UK

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Chairman's blog: Brexit or Nexit - Productivity remains the key - By David Lennan, Chairman of Work Wise UK

23rd June will be a big day for all of us and whatever the outcome there will be substantial and lasting impact on our working lives. Never before in our history have we as individuals had such an important decision to make, that will have such major consequences for future generations.

Yet, I am far from convinced that we all feel adequately prepared and confident to cast our votes, as we are subject to so many conflicting views hitting us from all sides of the debate and through the media channels. One place that really does have impact on all of us as individuals, is our Workplace and it is my firm belief that employers small and large should be doing all they can between now and 23rd June to help their staff understand the arguments for and against membership of the EU.

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