Consultancy

Homeworking Consultancy

Tailored consultancy support from our team of experts to help employers make homeworking a success for all concerned.

There are wide-ranging benefits of homeworking. Employers experience reduced overheads, increased productivity and greater employee engagement; individuals have greater flexibility and less commuting time and costs; and society benefits from environmental and community improvements. On the face of it, homeworking provides a win-win for all concerned. However, to make a success of it employers need to do more than just provide a smart phone and a laptop. There are many aspects to homeworking that need to be carefully considered and planned so that the working arrangements are sustainable in the long term.

Our consultants enable employers to make homeworking a success for everyone in the organisation. We tailor our support to meet the specific needs of our clients. This can range from facilitating a half-day workshop to help employers explore the possibility of expanding homeworking to managing an entire project to roll out wholescale homeworking. Whatever our involvement, our approach is to work in partnership with our clients, aiming to educate the people that we work with so that they are reasonably self-sufficient when we leave.

Key services

Facilitating homeworking workshops. Whether an employer wants to understand the practicalities of homeworking, kick-start a homeworking project or make their homeworking arrangements more effective our consultants can facilitate workshops to guide senior managers through the issues they need to consider.

Designing and developing organisations for homeworkers. Strong business performance comes from aligning people, processes and technology to support the strategic goals of an organisation. Our consultants can help employers bring homeworkers into balance through strategy alignment, people competence, process execution and technology tools in order to operate efficiently and effectively.

Developing homeworking policies. Homeworking policies makes sure that everyone is clear about what is acceptable and expected. Our consultants can help employers develop an effective homeworking policy that outlines the criteria for assessing whether or not a homeworking arrangement will be practical, effective and meet business needs; and how homeworkers will be managed.

Making HR processes fit for homeworkers. Homeworking has implications for other HR processes. Our consultants can help employers review and reshape all processes relating to the management of people so that they are fair and effective for everyone. It is important that homeworkers do not feel like they are forgotten, or at worst when something does not go right, victimised.

Sustaining the organisational culture. All employees should understand and embrace the culture and values of the organisation they work for, but this is difficult to achieve when people work at home. As experts in organisational culture, values and capabilities, our consultants can help employers embed the desired culture across the entire organisation.

Managing projects and change. Rolling out wholescale homeworking on a permanent basis represents a significant change, which requires management. As experienced change and project managers, our consultants can help employers identify, distil and clarify the changes they need to make homeworking successful.

Upskilling managers. Managing staff or teams who work at home can be very different to managing face-to-face on-site, but effective management is necessary to ensure the success of homeworking. Our consultants can provide upskilling programmes for managers of homeworkers to ensure that they have the skills needed to effectively manage their staff.