Remote working came to the fore in 2010 and new government rules on flexible working practices are changing the way businesses operate forever.
And while remote working and other flexible office space practices have clear advantages, business owners need to prepare for their implementation.
According to Lorraine Heard, partner in the employment team at Dickinson Dees, businesses of all sizes will be affected by the new rules and will have to have concrete reasons for preventing staff from working flexibly.
Writing for The Journal, Ms Heard claimed that business owners need to sit down with the operations managers and develop a comprehensive flexible working strategy.
She added: “Much resistance to flexible working is based on nothing more than fear of the unknown. Information, believable evidence and rigorous communication throughout the process will help minimise this.”
Ms Heard also suggested that companies can use flexible working as a means of reducing their overheads – or as a reason to adopt a virtual office solution.
IT analyst Rob Bamforth recently claimed that the humble office space PC will be one of the first casualties of remote working.