IT managers have been encouraged to support more flexible working practices with the advent today of National Work from Home Day, although others have warned of potential security risks if home workers are not adequately protected.
An estimated five million people are expected to spend the day working from home – the highest number since the initiative started three years ago. It kicks off Work Wise Week, which aims to promote smarter working practices.
Tony Shen, chief executive of enterprise comms vendor Aastra, argued that firms should use Work Wise Week as an opportunity to test run remote remote working practices.
"Remote working is not a trust thing but a matter of confidence," he argued. "Business leaders are driving this – it's here to stay … but it will depend on the nature of your work and where geographically you're based."
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said in a statement that employees can concentrate better on their work and avoid stressful commutes by being given more flexibility to work from home.
"Time saved can be spent on things not normally possible during the working day, like collecting the kids early from school, he added. "Employers benefit because their staff feel more relaxed and trusted and are likely to get more work done."
But others warned firms must extend their security policies and technologies to their home workers if they are to mitigate the risk of an attack on corporate systems.
Security vendor ScanSafe advised IT managers to ensure all desktop agents are running up to date code and signatures, and to extend acceptable usage policies and enforce them through content security tools.
Meanwhile, the burden on IT managers looks set to increase significantly with the government today launching new plans to extend flexible working rights to all parents with children under the age of 16. Currently only parents with children under six years old or who are disabled can legally claim flexible working hours.
Annual trade show will see the launch of the annual Information Security Breaches Survey 17 Apr 2008
Polycom has released a new device, and management tools for WiFi calls and meetings 25 Mar 2008
Lenovo has announced new desktop PCs, including one unit that has won all three green awards 05 Mar 2008
New McAfee research shows consumers are worried about the security of mobile services 11 Feb 2008
National Trust launches Green Leap Day campaign, calling on employers to give staff February 29th off to address their carbon footprint 12 Feb 2008
More user education and better collaboration needed to beat online threats 14 Nov 2007
New TUC report claims that while Germany employs half a million people in renewable energy the UK renewables workforce numbers 7,000 16 Jun 2008
Intelligent Energy ramps up funding for R&D and partnerships 04 Jul 2008Focus on energy savings through fuel efficiency for homes and public and commercial buildings 04 Jul 2008
ActionAid accuses G8 of driving more people into poverty by pursing biofuels and cutting agri-aid 04 Jul 2008
More news
Businesses' new found focus on the environment may be welcome, but according to Conrad MacKerron, it is taking attention away from workers' rights issues – and the credibility of the entire green business movement could be at risk 03 Jul 2008
It may be a year old, but as Dell's Jonathan Perry explains, firms looking to get rid of their old IT kit still need to pay attention to the WEEE directive 02 Jul 2008
Telling customers about your environmental targets is all well and good but, as Paul Thomas argues, they are meaningless if you do not know how they are to be achieved 01 Jul 2008 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
