Is snow reason enough to work from home?

The Federation of Small Businesses estimated 20% of the UK's working population, or 6.4 million people, did not make it to work. South-east England had the worst snow it has seen for 18 years, causing all London buses to be pulled from service and the closure of Heathrow's runways.

In the FM environment, we need to be prepared for every eventuality, and ensuring your organisation has remote facilities for staff is one way to keep things running. More and more staff are being encouraged to work from home, but this does make some business leaders uncomfortable. Why? It's that T word again - Trust.

A recent poll by City & Guilds confirmed that many British managers were very uncomfortable with the idea of staff working from home, and were far happier dealing with people in the office. Is it because management techniques have not kept up with technological advances?

Of the employers who offer working from home, only 8% believe home-workers are less productive than their office-bound colleagues, while 30% say they are more productive. The remainder of employers say home-working makes no difference to productivity.

We know that home-working helps us save on space costs, but in return we need to consider our management style, health and safety issues and communication amongst other things. Let's not ignore the trend for working from home because it just seems to difficult to manage!

For a 30 minute laser conversation on managing your employees effectively, call Liz Kentish The FM Coach on 01778 561326 or e-mail coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk with your burning questions about managing your people.