SEVERAL organisations, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), have signed an agreement to encourage flexible working.

The groups want more firms to offer home, mobile and remote work to employees, which they believe will improve their work life balance.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said: ‘Introducing smarter working practices would give employees more choice over their hours and working patterns. Allowing people to work from home could have a major impact on their lives. Less time would be wasted commuting and people would get to see more of their friends and families.’

Other groups to sign the concordat include Transport for London (TfL), BT, British Chambers of Commerce and Scope.

BT has already introduced new working practices for its 80,000 employees and currently has about 12,000 home workers.

For more information, visit www.workwiseuk.org