Best of all.....we’re happy to work in Bed!

The recent TeamView survey relating to flexible working brought a smile to the face.

A few statistics of notable value: 75% of workers want flexible working, 68% of employees would like to be able to work from home and nearly a quarter of 25-34-year old staff said they were “happy to work in bed”.

The results tried to have us believe that flexible working boosts job satisfaction in lieu of wage rises. '78% wanting more access to flexible working as a benefit in the absence of pay rises.'

Half the respondents said they would like to travel less for work, wouldn’t we all!  So this may  go somewhere to explain why many still follow the same schedule of work they would do in the office environment.

The poll of 1,000 office workers is a nice insight into the way workers are looking to work in future. We know from a survey run in 2010 over half (53%) of graduates polled saw flexible working as a key driver for career / employer choices. The very same graduates should be well settled in their choice of company now. Did they get what they want?

The idea of offering flexible working to employees is on the agenda of many employers; however, many businesses are restrained by their modus operandi and raison d'être, when it comes to the degree of flexibility they can offer.

Some, more centrally, based in London would have noticed the lack of scrumaging required to get on the trains in the morning during the Olympics.

Was this down to workers skipping the capital for a peaceful time to avoid the ‘expected’ mayhem or was it due to employers affording their staff a little more flexibility with their working patterns?

During the games the workplace seemed like a happy place to be, it would be interesting to see if an investigation was done looking at whether this was due to the ‘Olympic bug’ or the greater perceived control we had over our working styles.

What was the impact of the games on employers’ barriers to greater flexibility in the workplace and will the Olympic legacy mean a greater acceptance of flexible working in future or as the disconnect highlighted in the survey highlights, will flexible working become the white elephant deserted Olympic park of the future?

Have the graduates got what they wanted?