Mon, 8 Dec 2008
Flexible practices can boost productivity and retain best performers, claim industry figures.
Smart working - improving the workplace through investment in better technology, upgrading office environments and introducing more flexible working practices - can bring "tangible results" in improving both employees' output and staff retention, managers have been told.
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development conference in Harrogate, Genevieve Tennant of City law firm Allen & Overy commented that smart working practices had cut the attrition rate at her company by ten per cent in six months, Personnel Today states.
She added that smart working had helped the company improve its communication with junior associates and better define the paths for advancement.
"By putting an emphasis on output rather than the total time spent at work, and clarifying the necessary steps for career progression, we found many of our associates were sticking around longer," she said.
Capgemini Consulting's Simon Clementson added that his organisation's flexible and mobile working policies had increased staff retention by allowing employees to decide when and where they work.
According to a recent survey by the Confederation of British Industry, 46 per cent of respondents now offer some form of remote working.
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