Local Hubs - win-win options
March 11, 2008 Posted by julzswitch in : Environment, South West region, Flexible Working, Guest Bloggers , 1 comment so farI am doing some research today ahead of an event next Wednesday in Devon which is bringing together people from public, private and third sector organisation to look at the development of local ICT ‘hubs’. The event is being promoted by Community Council of Devon and COSMIC jointly and has already engaged interest from the County Council, BT, University of Plymouth, RDA and others.
There are several counties already running projects in the UK which provide ICT resources in local communities using facilities such as village halls, post offices, libraries and pubs and its interesting to see how these are now developing a new level of support given the need for everyone to take environmental issues more seriously. Examples I am looking at include - Somerset Broadplaces, Connecting Dorset and Switched on Shropshire
By providing access to services and resources in local communities we should be able to reduce the need for travel and our ongoing reliance on so many vehicles. I also think that if we extend this to shared work-based use of local facilities such as community centres and village halls it becomes a win-win situation. Many of us know about the issues with homeworking (isolation, lack of social support, etc) and so if we developed locally shared workspaces which could be used by a range of employers not only do we provide people with improved working arrangements, but we also develop new and much-needed income streams for local venues. I am going to encourage many more people to think about local hubs in this way and increase the debate as much as possible, starting with next Wednesday.
Julie Harris, COSMIC
Slivers of Time
January 29, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Innovation, Skills, jobs, Flexible Working , add a commentWe at Connecting Bristol have been banging on about the potential of Slivers of Time, Homeshoring and other forms of ultra-flexible working for quite some time now.
The idea is to create a new type of employment market place, which gives far more control to employees about where and when they work and at the same time helps employers run their businesses effectively.
The Guardian has picked-up on Slivers of Time with a feature aimed at graduates appearing in this week end’s Work section.
You can read it here
Extending the Benefits of Flexible Working
December 12, 2007 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Events, jobs, Flexible Working, Homeshoring , 2 commentsCouncils and other public bodies are starting to recognise the benefits of home working for existing employees. Home working can lead to a reduction in peak time travel and if managed well, can bring about efficiency and environmental gains. However, not everyone wants to, or is able to work at home. So Connecting Bristol is also interested in promoting the benefits of working closer to home.
Nottingham, Bristol and other DC10 members want to ensure that flexible job opportunities are made available to communities that face digital and social exclusion.
At this up and coming Headstar Flexible Working conference on 23rd Jan 2008, Peter Goodwin Accelerate Nottingham and I will talk about our collaborative DC10 project built on the innovative Homeshoring model.
The aim is to radically transform the way that business and public sector organisations manage their customer contact centres, creating new ‘virtual employment opportunities’ for people who face difficulties entering the jobs market.
Research suggests that more than 1 million people in the UK work in customer contact centres. If just a small percentage of these jobs can be transfered into city neighbourhoods or rural areas, there is significant potential to boost neighbourhood renewal and other regeneration programmes.
