Maternity returner, VP in global investment bank, group coaching
Shell employee & parent
Management consulting firm employee
Herbert Smith employee and mother
Investment bank employee
Head of Benefits, Shell
UK beats Germany at flexible working
Previous research has suggested that UK employers aren't the most family-friendly however recent research from Citrix Online shows a positive future for women hoping to return to work as mothers
Flexible working is a vital element to allowing women to effectively balance work and home and survey results show there is a positive move towards supporting flexible working in the UK.
Citrix Online surveyed over 3000 public and private sector organisations across France, Germany and the UK, exploring current attitudes to mobile working. The new research found that technology advancements and new applications designed to enhance employee productivity on the go is also driving greater workforce flexibility.
Key findings were:
- UK businesses typically faster to adopt mobile working practices than French or German ones
- 35% of companies have adopted more mobile working habits in the past five years
- 42% of companies actively encourage and enable staff to adopt mobile working
- 70% of employees see access to mobility devices and applications as key to productivity
The growing regulatory, social and environmental pressures have meant almost half of UK businesses (47%) have seen an increase in workforce mobility over the past five years, compared to 31% in France and 27% in Germany.
57% of respondents confirmed that their organisation provided technology to enable virtual working, with mobile computing devices such as laptops or Notebooks the most popular, followed by smartphones.
Andrew Millard, Marketing Director, eCommerce EMEA, Citrix Online comments "Though the rate of change differs in each country, there is a general move among employers towards more virtual workstyles, a practice Citrix Online calls workshifting".
Positive attitudes by UK organisations
Generally, UK organisations reflected the most positive attitude towards enabling a more effective workforce, as 30% actively encourage all staff to adopt mobile/remote working (compared to 18% overall), with a further 38% supporting mobile/remote working across departments where it is necessary for the job (compared to 24%).
Companies everywhere clearly recognise the need for change, as only 6% of UK organisations now actively discourage mobile/remote working.
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