Business that introduce flexibility into their work practices and adopt teleworking can retain the best staff and boost their bottom line at the same time. Lisa Matassa reports...

The working environment has changed significantly in the past 10 years and perhaps the most notable change of all is the need for flexibility. Progressive employers are starting to realise that keeping good people requires an earnest effort to move beyond the traditional nine to five, always onsite work practices. The advent of teleworking has mad this possible and is being used more and more by companies big and small. The facts speak for themselves as research findings continually point to the need for companies to adopt teleworking policies. More importantly, the findings show that companies that do it will boost their bottom line. Sun Microsystems is targeting US$100m in annual savings with its teleworking programme or iWork, as it calls it. Alsmost 16,000 of the company's employees across the globe, including Ireland, take part in the initiative, which recently won a global innovators award. Sun estimates that the resulting productivity gains are just over a third or 34pc.

Robert O'Dea, director of software engineering at Sun Microsystems' Software Development Centre at East Point Business Park in Dublin, argues that today's knowledge workers are seeking out more workplace choices, greater work-life balance and greater work flexibility.

"This is particularly relevant in an Irish context of high house prices and traffic congestion," he says. "iWork allows employees to live further from the city centre where property prices are at a premium." O'Dea points to the flexibility that an iWork initiative provides. "For example, you can log on at home, address urgent emails, do some work and then head for the office when rush hour traffic has eased." If the Automobile Association's calculations in the UK are anythng to go by, teleworking also has a large hand in reducing traffic volume. The organisation estimates that if people worked at home just one day a week it would reduce congestion by 20%.

The saving to the environment is another benefit of teleworking - a topic in sharp focus today. According to Sun, employees save hundreds of euro a month on petrol and this saving equates to 18,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. If you throw in savings on office space and equipment, the company estimates the emissions saving is closer to 29,000 tonnes of carbon.

Sun says it has saved 6,600 seats by providing flexible work opportunities. This is equivalent to 65,000 sq ft of office space. In Ireland, O'Dea estimates that savings on workplace and ancillary services will net the company millions of euro over a 10-year period.

Sun's Software Development Centre in Dublin, which employs 170 people, collaborates with sister centres in Europe, the US, India and China. "Rather than working in the office until 8 or 9pm, we can access web conferences from home, which ensures a better work-life balance," says O'Dea.

Workplace of the the future

The changing demographic of the workforce was the main impetus for O2 to introduce flexible working practices two years ago. The average age of an employee is 32, with many living outside the greater Dublin area. Theresa Murray, the company's human resources director, says 50% to 60% of the 1,750 O2 employees working in Ireland avail of flexi-time, while approximately 10% avail of some element of alternative working arrangement such as part-time work.

The initiatives are part of O2's Workplace of the Future initiative - a two-year programme that was launched three months ago. There are three main elements to the programme - disability, the employment of foreign nationals and flexibility. O2 commissioned external research to establish what the key elements of a workplace of the future are. Flexibility was one of the main findings. O2 is also considering the introduction of new initiatives such as commpressed working hurs, where somebody could complete their 78 hours in 9 days rather than 10.

O2 topped the poll in this year's Best 50 Companies to Work For. According to Murray, flexibility is one of the key reasons why the company is deserving of the award and it is cited by approximately 70% of people who come for interview.

However, it's not just large companies that choose to telework. Other research carried out by O2 found that 30% of senior executives in small to medium-sized companies telework at least one day at month from home - up from 25% last year - while 12% telework more than four days a month. The research also shows that 37% of those who telework do so to increase productivity and get more done without the usual office interruptions. Some 27% cite convenience as the reason, while 14% do it to achieve a better work-life balance. Unsurprisingly, 11% say they telework to avoid traffic gridlock - up four points on last year's survey.

"It is critical for managers to figure out how to close the gap between a widely dispersed workforce and the urgent need for teamwork," says O'Dea.