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Graduates expect flexible working

Flexible working may be gaining some momentum in the business world but it seems the next crop of employees expect it to be an option.

By Jennifer Scott, 28 Jul 2010 at 15:59

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Over half of this year’s graduates expect to have access to flexible working in their first job out of university, according to new research.

The study, commissioned by Orange, showed 53 per cent of the 1,000 graduates interviewed expected to either work from an external location or outside traditional office hours, with a huge 69 per cent stating it was “important.”

The research also showed almost half of the graduates – 45 per cent – expected to be able to access both email and work files remotely, showing the importance of technology for the new workforce of 2010.

Max Taylor, director of corporate marketing for Orange, said: “Today’s graduates are far more digitally savvy than their counterparts of 10 – or even five – years ago.”

“They expect to be able to work on the move and make use of tools like social media and the internet wherever they are.”

However, he thinks this attitude will be positive for businesses in the UK.

“Enabling this type of working for the new generation of employees coming into the workplace can be a real asset to businesses,” Taylor added.

“They’re already fully conversant with the ins and outs of mobile technology, and should be able to adapt their previous experience to help them out when they start work, for example by doing some quick online research on the way to a meeting or finding a contact in their network who can help them get things done.”

Other aspects of a job graduates considered as “important” included learning experiences, happiness, good salaries and great colleagues.

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Transforming the Effectiveness of Virtual Teams

Remote and mobile working is now a standard component of corporate life, yet too many businesses are still not giving enough thought to the structure and management of teams working remotely. There is so much more functionality that could be used to deliver extraordinary improvements in the productivity of virtual teams and to minimise the potential misunderstandings that occur when colleagues are not communicating face to face. From simple tools such as the ability to use presence information to determine a colleague’s availability, to the use of fixed/mobile communications to seamlessly transfer a user between available networks from a single mobile device, the opportunities for organisations to improve the virtual team environment are clear. More significantly, organisations can now leverage developments in both unified communications and cloud computing to quickly deploy tailored ‘mashup’ applications, combining data and services from multiple internal and third party sources, to reflect the specific needs of a user or team. As more and more people are involved in virtual working, often shifting between teams both internally and cross-organisation, it is imperative that companies take a far more strategic approach to virtual team management, from developing new processes to supporting staff with tools that reflect the challenges of remote operations. Chris de Silva Managing Director NEC Unified Solutions www.nec-unified.co.uk

By Chris_deSilva on Thursday Jul 29