RE: Working from home beats congestion
Tuesday 22nd August 2006
No more of this: work from homeIf road congestion is the bane of our lives, then the answer is to stop driving -- or at least commuting. That's the solution from the RAC Foundation anyway.
Working from home beats congestion
Drive less and beat the jams: campaign
No more of this: work from home
The RAC Foundation is the latest organisation to back Work Wise UK.
Supported by Government, business and the unions, the five-year initiative aims to encourage the widespread adoption of smarter working practices, such as flexible working, mobile working, remote working and working from home.
The RAC Foundation is supporting the campaign as it believes any change in working patterns which reduces the need to travel, or staggers the time when travel occurs, will have an effect in reducing congestion on the country’s already over-congested roads. It predicts that smarter working could cut commuter traffic by up to 10 per cent within five years. Edmund King, executive director, said: “Even if people only worked from home one day a week, the impact would be significant: just look at what happens during the school holidays.
“Road congestion costs the UK economy some £20 billion per year. If there is a reasonable take-up of smarter working, we predict that £1.9 billion per year will be saved within five years.”
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of the IT Forum Foundation, the not-for-profit industry organisation behind Work Wise UK, said: “One of the key benefits of most smarter working practices is less or more flexible travel requirements.
“Reducing congestion and overcrowding on public transport has a double benefit: not only do those people not travelling benefit, the experience for those that have to travel is far more tolerable.
”The UK has one of the longest average working weeks in Europe. “Travel is an important element,” said Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC.
“The working week figures do not take into-2-account travel time, which in some areas of the country is very significant. Simply reducing that element, or enabling the staggering of the rush hour, will have a fundamental impact on people’s lives both in terms of time and stress.”
Phil Flaxton continued: “British workers spend by far the longest time travelling in Europe – as many as 47 working days per year (Samsung research 2004), with commuters in the South East facing an average of eight hours per week – a whole extra working day. Simply by working two days a week from home, workers would save 19 working days per year.”
Discussion
cliffe_mafia said:
IF the government really wanted this to happen they'd give tax breaks for working from home. As it is they'd rather have us all paying tax not moving in our cars.
Plus they actually get votes from the idiots who think the government taxing motorists more is a actually good thing and will solve the problem
. It's pretty damn obvious that the solution to congestion is not to make commuting more expensive and difficult, but to remove and/or reduce the need for it.
Tax breaks would be nice, but the only problem I can see there is that they'd want some way to check that people genuinely have the opportunity to work from home granted by their employer. That will need some form of checking, which means more administrative effort bearing a cost.......and I wonder who'll end up paying for that?
Perhaps the financial incentive would be having to spend less on fuel? Or certainly wasting less of it stuck in traffic jams. Either way, there should be much more home/remote working allowed as there are many jobs which do not require 100% office attendance.
Perhaps the financial incentive would be having to spend less on fuel? Or certainly wasting less of it stuck in traffic jams. Either way, there should be much more home/remote working allowed as there are many jobs which do not require 100% office attendance.
Any tax break needs to be given to the employer. Most people would jump at the chance to work at home. The reason for a low takeup is that the vast majority of companies hate the thought of not being able to see what their employees are up to. The reality of the situation though is that work output is easy to measure in most office based jobs.
The problem is that there is insufficient incentive for the employers to take this up, despite the savings in overhead that would accrue. They need a tangible fiscal incentive (tax break). This would be a trade off against the money saved by the government on its road building and maintenance. For employees the benefits are more obvious by way of saved time and resources.
The problem is that there is insufficient incentive for the employers to take this up, despite the savings in overhead that would accrue. They need a tangible fiscal incentive (tax break). This would be a trade off against the money saved by the government on its road building and maintenance. For employees the benefits are more obvious by way of saved time and resources.
I would love to be able to work from home but unfortunately the job I do is such that I have to be physically there. 
I currently travel into central London by train,
and this is not a pleasant journey to say the least. But must be better than being stuck in a traffic Jam.
I really think the answer could be a combination of things / better public transport with increased capacity for peak times. For example those double decker trains would help a lot for sure and also as mentioned incentives to work from I think would be a great idea.
One thing that really gets my goat
is the fact that I pay over £1000 per year for my ticket and I cannot even get a seat, grrr.
I currently travel into central London by train,
and this is not a pleasant journey to say the least. But must be better than being stuck in a traffic Jam. I really think the answer could be a combination of things / better public transport with increased capacity for peak times. For example those double decker trains would help a lot for sure and also as mentioned incentives to work from I think would be a great idea.
One thing that really gets my goat
is the fact that I pay over £1000 per year for my ticket and I cannot even get a seat, grrr. I could easily work from home most of the time, though I live close enough to the office that I walk half the time anyway.
The other idea is to try and stagger working hours or even school hours, we dont all need to be at work at 8:30am on the dot. I dont come in to work until 9:30am but stay a bit later until 7pm most nights, thus I manage to just miss most of the major congestion. My old job working shifts was even better, start at 7am then work to 3pm, or work from 3pm until 11pm, perfect timing to miss most of the traffic, it was great. Before that my job was 8:30am to 5pm, and I would have to allow almost an hour just for crawling through traffic, lots of wasted time and more money burning away in fuel costs because the car is nowhere near running efficently when crawling along, and it's very noticeable. In my BMW 528i the fuel consumption in traffic jams was usually at 20+L/100km, at off peak hours just crusing in it was as low as 7-8L/100km, thats a very big difference.
The other big incentive for the individual, is much less time wasted sitting around in a car or bus, being crowded in and getting angrier, stressed and more frustrated. Who wants to spend all day either at work or travelling to work?
The other idea is to try and stagger working hours or even school hours, we dont all need to be at work at 8:30am on the dot. I dont come in to work until 9:30am but stay a bit later until 7pm most nights, thus I manage to just miss most of the major congestion. My old job working shifts was even better, start at 7am then work to 3pm, or work from 3pm until 11pm, perfect timing to miss most of the traffic, it was great. Before that my job was 8:30am to 5pm, and I would have to allow almost an hour just for crawling through traffic, lots of wasted time and more money burning away in fuel costs because the car is nowhere near running efficently when crawling along, and it's very noticeable. In my BMW 528i the fuel consumption in traffic jams was usually at 20+L/100km, at off peak hours just crusing in it was as low as 7-8L/100km, thats a very big difference.
The other big incentive for the individual, is much less time wasted sitting around in a car or bus, being crowded in and getting angrier, stressed and more frustrated. Who wants to spend all day either at work or travelling to work?
I wrote a letter to a well known organisation whose aim is to get us out of cars and onto trains about a year ago, regarding this method of reducing congestion. They were about to make a representation to the government regarding the benefits to be obtained from this method of working, and asked me if they could use my letter in their presentation, to which I readily agreed, as I believe it has some potential. (have`nt heard anything since about it though) Of course there are many for whom this method of working is not possible e.g nurses and doctors who must necessarily work in a hospital, or workers in factories etc, but for many it is a viable option especially with improvements in communications/computers etc. When I tried this for a while,I cut my fuel costs by 80%. had more time to be with family and friends, I could have lay ins in the morning! had more time available to devote to the job and my output INCREASED, and I did not arrive home or at the office stressed by having to deal with traffic jams, numptie drivers and speed cameras. I cannot think of a single more cost effective way of dealing with congestion/pollution etc and wonder why this method of working is not more widely promoted. Even for employers it means they can pay less for the use and maintenence of expensive office space/car parking etc why are`nt more people doing it or promoting it?
R988 - Quite agree 
My other bug bear is that I waste so much of my time travelling to and from work - 1hr 15 min each way. But once again I work in Telecoms and most of the jobs are in central London 
. so not much choice.
I would love to be able to walk 10 mins to work, that must be great, maybe one day eh
My other bug bear is that I waste so much of my time travelling to and from work - 1hr 15 min each way. But once again I work in Telecoms and most of the jobs are in central London . so not much choice. I would love to be able to walk 10 mins to work, that must be great, maybe one day eh
My job (IT Consultant in education) means a lot of site visits so I do a fair bit from home and agree with everyone else, if you can you should work from home.
I find I get more done and am less stressed. However a lot of people at the Uni where I am based view working at home as a skiive. I think sadly in our control-freak society the chance of people being out of sight of their bosses is remote.
My idea would be to start up local drop-in offices with broadband link, half a dozen PCs, kitchen, lockable storage and maybe even cameras so that anal bosses could check up on their staff.
any job that is just using phone and PC should not be in an office - if the jobs can go abroad, why not home?
If so many of us sensible people agree with it then its doomed
(off to finish my work at home)
I find I get more done and am less stressed. However a lot of people at the Uni where I am based view working at home as a skiive. I think sadly in our control-freak society the chance of people being out of sight of their bosses is remote.
My idea would be to start up local drop-in offices with broadband link, half a dozen PCs, kitchen, lockable storage and maybe even cameras so that anal bosses could check up on their staff.
any job that is just using phone and PC should not be in an office - if the jobs can go abroad, why not home?
If so many of us sensible people agree with it then its doomed
(off to finish my work at home)
and you have to drive right past in your throaty V8 to get any where 
I work from home 3-4 days a week. I get to spend more time with the children and less time on the road. Also saves around 150-200 miles a week in the car and means I can do errands much more easily. You need to have an employer that trusts you - that's very important - and I wouldn't like working entirely on my own at home. I need a bit of contact with colleagues
My wife works from home three days a week these days. Brilliant. On the days she commutes she has to commute two hours each way (four hours total). Utter hell. Her firm moved from one side of (Central) London to the other and that's what did it (oh and the "temporary" closure of the Portaloo and Shitty line).
I, on the other hand, commute two miles. By car most days. But I can cycle and walk...and do as often as time allows...
I, on the other hand, commute two miles. By car most days. But I can cycle and walk...and do as often as time allows...
I have worked from a SoHo for many years, and regard people who spend time in traffic jams and the rest much as a scientist regards exotic animals in the wild.
However, home working is not possible for everyone and to that end, it would be very helpful if our so-called 'government' actually got on with a 21st century transport infrastructure, rather than berating the sufferers who have to use it.
Even without vast construction costs there are many small things that would help. Example -- all those traffic lights at M40 junctions. Why not have them working just at rush hours? As it is, drivers are often stranded at 'red', waiting for non-existent traffic even at the dead of night.
Another thing -- Why not make those responsible for foolish decisions known? At least we could then complain effectively, rather than waste our breath ranting at the system.
However, home working is not possible for everyone and to that end, it would be very helpful if our so-called 'government' actually got on with a 21st century transport infrastructure, rather than berating the sufferers who have to use it.
Even without vast construction costs there are many small things that would help. Example -- all those traffic lights at M40 junctions. Why not have them working just at rush hours? As it is, drivers are often stranded at 'red', waiting for non-existent traffic even at the dead of night.
Another thing -- Why not make those responsible for foolish decisions known? At least we could then complain effectively, rather than waste our breath ranting at the system.
I work in the civil service, and am a homeworker - most of my job can be done from home, apart from site visits (and then I get 40p a mile!).
Attend the office about once a week for meetings, working groups etc.
Tax breaks do not bother me - saving 2 gallons of fuel and 50 miles of wear and tear on the car offset any (small) costs of heating/lighting/electricity for the PC. Also save 1.5-2hrs a day in commuting, which is time I can spend with the family (or in the garage playing with the Griff - easier than childcare!).
You need the right sort of job, and an understanding/trusting employer. And it does not suit everyone, as you can feel isolated when you do not see colleagues and boss for weeks at a time (although to some that is a benefit!)
Start with an informal "Working at Home" a day or two a week, and see what a difference it makes.
Employers should be encouraged to do more of it.
(Just don't let them catch you on PH's in work time.......)
Attend the office about once a week for meetings, working groups etc.
Tax breaks do not bother me - saving 2 gallons of fuel and 50 miles of wear and tear on the car offset any (small) costs of heating/lighting/electricity for the PC. Also save 1.5-2hrs a day in commuting, which is time I can spend with the family (or in the garage playing with the Griff - easier than childcare!).
You need the right sort of job, and an understanding/trusting employer. And it does not suit everyone, as you can feel isolated when you do not see colleagues and boss for weeks at a time (although to some that is a benefit!)
Start with an informal "Working at Home" a day or two a week, and see what a difference it makes.
Employers should be encouraged to do more of it.
(Just don't let them catch you on PH's in work time.......)
Oh...there IS a MAJOR reason why firms do not like "working from home" that I think a LOT of people overlook.
Many of the managers in business have reached the age where they have little ones at home.
Just try working with a three year old present. Utterly impossible. You can't tell the little buggers to feck off - they don't. So you still have the problem of what to do with them: creche etc.
So these managers (with little ones) who work from the office at all costs to avoid little Johnny The Bugger find it very, very hard to concieve of a home where it is quiet at all times and it is possible to actually work uninterrupted.
My home, for example, has no kids and is equipped with Broadband, many computers, desks in two studies etc and it is a BETTER working environment than most people's office. Most homes aren't like that. Hence...hard for them to believe its possible and (even) a good idea...
Many of the managers in business have reached the age where they have little ones at home.
Just try working with a three year old present. Utterly impossible. You can't tell the little buggers to feck off - they don't. So you still have the problem of what to do with them: creche etc.
So these managers (with little ones) who work from the office at all costs to avoid little Johnny The Bugger find it very, very hard to concieve of a home where it is quiet at all times and it is possible to actually work uninterrupted.
My home, for example, has no kids and is equipped with Broadband, many computers, desks in two studies etc and it is a BETTER working environment than most people's office. Most homes aren't like that. Hence...hard for them to believe its possible and (even) a good idea...
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