Concept not so remote

Mar 11 2008 Evening Gazette

AS flexible working becomes increasingly common, an nebusiness online poll has revealed North East bosses are more likely than their counterparts to know how to deal with non-office-based staff.

The poll said two out of three North East bosses have not been trained to manage staff who work remotely, although telecoms giant BT estimates this figure to be three quarters nationally.

The number of local people working from home has grown by more than 56% since 1999 to almost 50,000 workers.

But Gary Watson, managing director of recruitment firm NEWGroup - which supplies workers to Teesport - said some managers may be deterred by the cost of investing in technology to monitor progress of “remote” workers.

He said: “Companies have to realise remote staff need access to the main server, for example, as well as data stored on other telecommunication systems.

“We are hoping to commission a web-based customer relationship management package that would allow our staff to work from home.”