The continuing snow and blizzard conditions have highlighted the problems of traditional office working yet again, once again creating a strong argument for more flexible means of working. This has been argued many times, but the ‘big freeze’ has illustrated a firm need for all companies to provide this capability.

“While not everyone affected is office based, many are spending working hours struggling to make it into work, affecting available resources of companies and placing productivity and performance at risk. By taking unnecessary journeys they are also putting personal safety at risk, not to mention a possible drain on the emergency services.

“Remote working has been a reality for years and while the recession has forced some companies to consider technologies which enable it smoothly, there has been a great loss of business time and revenue through employees who are unable to travel yet are ill equipped to work remotely. Easy solutions are available, for example, video conferencing and workspace virtualisation mean people can keep in touch and cut down on travel.

“Many workers now treat their home as a base location anyway, and some offices simply have hot desk areas so that people can work from a central location if they wish. Virtualisation means we can access work from just about every device, isn’t it about time we really embraced it?

“Getting to the office may be more challenging in the winter months, but it’s worth remembering that staff absenteeism can occur at any time of year due to circumstances such as illness or transport strikes. Therefore, whilst for some remote working may be a seasonal initiative, it should in fact be considered a business necessity, essential every day of the year.”

Dave Baldwin, Managing Director - Getronics UK & Ireland