It always helps to be on the right side of history – and that applies to business as much as anything else in life.

So a smart business will detect which way the tide of affairs is flowing and swim with it. And, in advanced western economies, the trend is towards more and more people working from home, reverting to a norm that was only interrupted by the Industrial Revolution.

When I started Catalyst in 2005 as a finance and accounting recruitment agency, it seemed like a natural way to operate. I knew I would enjoy it, the people I wanted to work for me were all in favour and – most important – it gave us a valuable insight into much larger businesses that were also moving towards the same model.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Work Wise Week 2016.

I would like to start by thanking all of the organisations who will be working with us during the week to raise the awareness of new, smarter ways of working.

Now in its 11th year, the aim of Work Wise Week, which includes National Work from Home day, is to promote modern “smarter” working practices such as flexible, remote and mobile working, as well as working from home. 

As a Not for Profit campaign and development organisation we work to help make the UK one of the most progressive economies in the world by introducing smarter working practices which, can enable significant gains to both an organisations productivity and increase the work/life balance of its employees. 

Improving work place productivity brings real benefit to business, employees and the country as a whole. We strive to create the sort of environment where people work well as a team and new ideas can flourish. Work place productivity initiatives and improvements boost the bottom line and benefit everyone. Many organisations who have adopted the Work Wise UK way are already experiencing this.