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Wednesday 4th April 2012
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updated 3.30pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020
4 April 2012
A flexible-working pilot by O2, which saw most of the headquarters' staff stay away from the office, has been branded an "astonishing success" by the company.
Around 2,500 employees of the telecommunication firm at its Slough headquarters participated in the pilot, working away from the office on one day in February, with only 125 staff working in the building.
On the day, workers saved a total of 2,000 hours of commuting time, with just over half of that spent working instead. Some staff slept more, some spent extra time with their families, or on other leisure activities.
Of the staff that took part in the pilot, 88 per cent said they were at least as productive as on a normal day at the office, while 36 per cent claimed they were more productive.
Electricity consumption at the 18,580 square metres (200,000 square feet) office fell by 12 per cent, water use by 53 per cent and around 12.2 tonnes of CO2 was saved, with only 109 cars in the car park, compared to 1,100 on an average day.
O2 said the results sent a clear signal to its employees, business customers and other UK organisations on the advantages of working flexibly. O2 business director Ben Dowd said: "Line managers are used to managing people they can see. Managing them remotely is a completely different thing. Our pilot on 8 February didn't solve all of those problems, but it is a good start. We can do a lot more to support line managers in charge of remote teams, but we know it's not going to happen overnight. We're educating people about the whole future of work here and there's still work to be done, but we're pleased to say this is a fantastic start". O2 started communicating about the pilot weeks in advance and upgraded its Virtual Private Network beforehand.
The company said the pilot aimed to push the boundaries of what is possible through flexible working and has underpinned its contingency plans to manage travel disruption expected during the summer's Olympic Games.
A flexible-working pilot by O2, which saw most of the headquarters' staff stay away from the office, has been branded an "astonishing success" by the company.
Around 2,500 employees of the telecommunication firm at its Slough headquarters participated in the pilot, working away from the office on one day in February, with only 125 staff working in the building. On the day, workers saved a total of 2,000 hours of commuting time, with just over half of that spent working instead. Some staff slept more, some spent extra time with their families, or on other leisure activities.
Of the staff that took part in the pilot, 88 per cent said they were at least as productive as on a normal day at the office, while 36 per cent claimed they were more productive.
Electricity consumption at the 18,580 square metres (200,000 square feet) office fell by 12 per cent, water use by 53 per cent and around 12.2 tonnes of CO2 was saved, with only 109 cars in the car park, compared to 1,100 on an average day.
O2 said the results sent a clear signal to its employees, business customers and other UK organisations on the advantages of working flexibly. O2 business director Ben Dowd said: "Line managers are used to managing people they can see. Managing them remotely is a completely different thing. Our pilot on 8 February didn't solve all of those problems, but it is a good start. We can do a lot more to support line managers in charge of remote teams, but we know it's not going to happen overnight. We're educating people about the whole future of work here and there's still work to be done, but we're pleased to say this is a fantastic start". O2 started communicating about the pilot weeks in advance and upgraded its Virtual Private Network beforehand.
The company said the pilot aimed to push the boundaries of what is possible through flexible working and has underpinned its contingency plans to manage travel disruption expected during the summer's Olympic Games.