Snow Wins/ No Fees

Is anybody out there? The severe ( for the UK) weather has meant that many people have been unable to make it in to their places of work today. Not so the good people of EDC Lord and Co , all of whom have braved the worst the British winter can throw at them, and have made it, by hook or by crook ( or by off-road bike in my case), in to the office, so that we can continue to be of service to our clients despite the inclement weather. Unfortunately, trying to be productive is very difficult when there are very few people on the other end of the phone, or in their offices. The modern communications revolution should mean that many more people are able to work from home irrespective of whether or not they can travel beyond their front gate. But anyone who’s ever bemoaned the lack of a mobile signal outside the M25 , will not be surprised that teleworking ( defined as those people who work from home using computers and telecommunications technologies) is not as universal as some parts of the media would have us believe. Although there has been a rapid increase in the number of people able to work from home in recent years, it started from a very low base. So, in 1997 “teleworkers” accounted for a mere 4% of the workforce. That figure had doubled by 2005 ( the last year for which published statistics are available) to 8% of the workforce ( 2.4 million people) who worked wholly or mainly from home. In addition, a further 1 million people occasionally worked from home, making a total of just under 12% of the workforce*. Undoubtedly, that total will have increased in the last 5 years, and no doubt extreme weather episodes will increase it again in the short term, but even if one makes a generous assumption and doubles the totals again, that still means that 3 out of every 4 workers cannot work if they cannot make it in to the office. Because we live in an inter-connected world where our productivity depends upon others fulfilling their roles as much it does us fulfilling our own, for those that do make it in, what they are able to achieve is limited by those who couldn’t make it. So, if you’re one of the people who slogged through the snow/bedded down in the office/ stayed in a hotel/ or who can telework from home: let’s talk! For everyone else, get the sledge out and enjoy the white stuff while it lasts!


* Home-based working using communication technologies, by Yolanda Ruiz and Annette Walling, can be found in Labour Market Trends October 2005, published by UK National Statistics.