Work smarter and live better

How homeworking can make you more productive

By Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation

Working Smarter: Living Better is the tag line for a national campaign that was launched earlier this month to encourage people to do as the phrase suggests; work smarter and live better.

The three year campaign, backed by heavyweights such as BT, the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce has set itself an ambitious goal - the plan is to increase the number of people enjoying smarter working from 3.1 million to 14 million, within the next three years. I call on you, the reader to help them reach their goal.

Everyone's happy

The campaign, Work Wise UK, has identified homeworking as a route to smarter working and it is in this area that Enterprise Nation is lending its staunch support. An increase in the number of home businesses clearly contributes to enterprise rates in the UK but so also does an increase in the number of people working from home. How?

�If you move to home-based working, you are guaranteed to be more productive�

Fact one: If you move to home-based working, you are guaranteed to be a happier and healthier person and, as a result, more productive. One company that has a good percentage of its workforce operating from home has hard evidence that home-based workers are 6% happier than their office based colleagues and take fewer sick days.

Fact two: If you are the employer, you too will be happier and healthier as you will see property costs decrease and levels of staff productivity rise. There is the added bonus that your non-commuting employees are contributing to the environment as the time that could have been spent in polluting rush hour traffic is instead spent on ticking off work tasks.

Taken together, happier, more productive workers and an efficient company cost base is having an enterprising and positive impact on the UK economy.

Talk to your boss

If working smarter and living better appeals to you, consider making an application to your employer to request flexible working from home and, as an employer, look at how well-organised homeworking has helped companies, large and small, improve performance.

And then let me know the results. Enterprise Nation is set to be the official voice of homeworkers for Work Wise UK; representing the thousands of home-based employees and business owners who are operating successfully, yet not without some challenges, right across the UK. Responses to our online polls will be presented to national policy makers to influence changes that will ensure your move to Working Smarter: Living Better is one of the wisest you will ever make.

What next?

•	Parents who work for a small business have the right to apply for flexible work hours. Read our advice on how to implement this in your company, and how technology can help.
•	Find out how working for yourself can also help stamp out the gender pay difference