Work Wise Week 2009

Work Wise Week this year will run from Tuesday, May 12, until Monday, May 18.
This will be the fourth year that Work Wise Week has been run by Work Wise UK, an initiative led by the TUC, CBI and British Chambers of Commerce which promotes smarter working practices, such as flexible, remote and mobile working, and working from home.

It aims to give half the working population, some 14 million people, the opportunity to work smarter by 2011.
"This year, smarter working is more relevant than ever," said Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK. "With the recession biting hard, businesses have to find ways of improving productivity, and smarter working practices are an integral part of the solution."

The themed days will take a different approach this year. The week will consist of the following:

Mobile Office Day (Tuesday, May 12) - the first day will encourage people to work while on the move, instead of travelling to a central office.

Remote Office Day (Wednesday, May 13) - this day will encourage people to use remote offices instead of travelling to a central office. These would include serviced office space, touch down centres or even hot spots such as coffee shops.

Virtual Meeting Day (Thursday, May 14) - this day will encourage people to conduct meetings by audio or video conferencing or go online instead of travelling to meetings.

National Work from Home Day (Friday, May 15) - this will be the fourth time this popular day has been run. It will encourage people to work from home on that day, instead of commuting to their usual place of work.

Smarter Travel Day (Monday, May 18) - the concluding day of the week will encourage people to travel outside peak times. Coming into work an hour early, and then leaving an hour early at the end of the day, or going an hour later, and leaving an hour later. This will reduce the peak rush hour, and make the commuting experience far more bearable for many.