Powwownow: Teleworking Proven To Increase Productivity by 20%

MANCHESTER, England, July 1, 2011 -

As the London 2012 Olympics approach, people are being
advised to work from home yet again, but why isn’t teleworking
already the norm?

UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond recently called for
employees in London to work from home during the Olympics next
year. The move - intended to ease transport congestion will surely
be welcomed by many in the Capital, scores of who are forced to
travel between 45-60 minutes each way, every day.

However, in the latest CBI / Pertemps Employment Trends Survey,
almost half of all employers (46%) said they now offered
teleworking to staff, which is a dramatic increase from 14% three
years ago and 11% in 2006.

Bosses believe that staff may be trying to cut their carbon
footprint, or are avoiding a troublesome commute and poor transport
infrastructure. Employers also understand that by using teleworking
and free
conference calling, productivity need not suffer if staff are
not in the office.

British Telecom began a telework scheme in 1986, and now has
15,000 homeworkers out of 92,000 employees. The company argues that
home workers save it an average of £6,000 a year each, are 20% more
productive and take fewer sick days.

“Using teleworking to take work out of the workplace has become
very popular, and is also a useful way to avoid a laborious
commute, balance family commitments, and even reduce carbon
emissions. As technology becomes more reliable and widely
available, this trend can only grow.” - John Cridland, CBI Deputy
Director-General.

Andrew Pearce, CEO of leading Teleconferencing Company href="www.powwownow.co.uk/">Powwownow, said: “For the
last three decades flexible working has been the principle backbone
of the UK’s productivity. Our strength has not been achieved solely
by efficient plant and machinery, but through having a flexible and
talented workforce which works to the advantage of both the
employee and employer.”

When Telework Association
and Wisework Ltd. surveyed 350 people asking how confident they
were about their productivity when working from home, more than
half were definitely sure they were more productive ( href="www.powwownow.co.uk/img/news/articles/are-you-more-productive.jpg">
table 1- see here).

Participants were also asked whether they agreed with statements
on a list of possible reasons for increased productivity; almost
all agreed that the elimination of commuting was a contributor ( href="www.powwownow.co.uk/img/news/articles/reasons-for-increased-productivity.jpg">
table 2 - see here).

Powwownow is currently in the process of assembling a definitive
white paper regarding the benefits of remote working for business.
The conference
call provider is actively encouraging businesses from all
sectors to contribute quotes and case studies, which will then be
included and credited when the paper is published later this year.
If you or your company wish to have a say - then it is advised you
get in touch via their Facebook page: href="www.facebook.com/powwownow">facebook.com/powwownow

About Powwownow:

Powwownow ( href="www.powwownow.co.uk/">www.powwownow.co.uk/)
was founded in the UK in 2004, offering customers low-cost
conference calling facilities with the ethos of no booking, no
billing, no fuss. The customer does not need to book a conference
room and never receives a bill from Powwownow. They only pay the
cost of their own call, which is added to their standard telecoms
bill. The company now operates in 15 countries worldwide including
the US and major European markets and recently acquired web
conferencing and business collaboration providers, Yuuguu. Turnover
for 2011 is predicted to reach £10m.

Find out more about Powwownow by visiting the Powwownow Facebook
page and following href="twitter.com/powwownow">@Powwownow on Twitter.

Powwownow employs 49 people and is based in Richmond and
Manchester.

Contact Information: Craig Mather, Powwownow PR & Social Media Exec , T: +44(0)207-990-1165 , craig.mather at powwownow.com