UK's permanent workforce to drop 12 per cent by the year 2000

Citation

(1998), "UK's permanent workforce to drop 12 per cent by the year 2000", European Business Review, Vol. 98 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.1998.05498aab.004

UK's permanent workforce to drop 12 per cent by the year 2000

UK's permanent workforce to drop 12 per cent by the year 2000

Leading UK employers say that their permanent workforces will halve by the year 2010 according to a new report from Pagoda Associates Ltd.

Pagoda's report, "Managing the mobile workforce", finds Britain on the verge of a flexible working revolution as employees take advantage of new technology to work where, how and even when they like.

Currently 50 per cent of the UK's permanent workforce work in an office environment, occupying 500 million square feet of commercial space. However, the study reveals that up to 80 per cent of an average office employee's tasks are performed alone at a desk and could therefore be carried out anywhere.

Pagoda questioned over 100 leading private and public sector organisations across manufacturing, utilities and service groups and found that mobile working can save up to £10,000 per head per year in reduced premises costs as opposed to the £2,000-£4,000 per head per year it would cost to equip workers to work outside the office.

The report demonstrates how major divisions of companies such as British Gas, Barclays and Xerox have already embraced flexible working, leading to significant improvements in business performance.

Other key findings from the report include:

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  Mobile working has the potential to increase productivity by up to 40 per cent by reducing travel time requirements and avoiding "non-work" activities or interruptions in the office.

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  By 1998 the number of employees who share a desk in the office will be more than double the equivalent number in 1995.

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  Hot-desking can save the company 2-3 per cent of turnover, achieved by halving property costs.

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  Offices will exist primarily to provide corporate identity and social interaction. By 2005, 25 per cent of companies expect that over half their office space will support team, not individual, activity.

According to the report's author, Pagoda director, John Lane, the growth in flexible working will present businesses with the biggest change in working practices since the mass introduction of the PC.

"In most companies the adoption of mobile working has been driven primarily by the employee, and is administered on a fairly ad hoc basis by the company. The development of a coherent strategy has often been neglected. This mirrors the lack of strategy when companies first began purchasing PCs", explains Lane.

Pagoda's study reveals that a company facing the transition to a mobile working culture is pressured into self-analysis, forcing it to analyse how best it can support both its customers and employees.

Lane continues: "Without a strategy designed to manage the process, the business will find itself plagued by problems resulting from inconsistent support contracts, non standardised software and undisciplined/unmotivated employees ­ problems which can far exceed any potential benefits".

In the report Lane analyses how companies have overcome the problems and defines what steps the organisation must take to achieve the benefits. It investigates what changes to management structures, roles and responsibilities must be made and how employee performance can be measured and managed.

He also goes on to assess which roles can be performed more successfully, if less time is spent in the office, and finds that two thirds of the workforce have the potential to work more flexibly. However, not all employees are able to adapt to a more flexible working culture, preferring the interaction and autonomy of the office environment to the isolation of home/mobile working.

Pagoda investigations found that in the best cases 90 per cent of the workforce were able to adapt successfully, and in the worst case scenarios 50 per cent were still able to benefit.

Managing the mobile workforce answers the question, "How can companies achieve benefits from mobile working and what are the implications for future business, IT and property strategies?"

Full copies of the report can be purchased directly from Pagoda Associates Ltd on Tel: 0171 436 9464 at a price of £450 (zero rated for VAT including postage).