ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the drivers that motivate organisations to introduce smart and flexible working practices. Companies that adopt smarter working practices are typically motivated by the need to find new solutions to familiar problems, such as reducing overheads, being more productive and recruiting the best people. The Automobile Association (AA) breakdown recovery service has introduced virtual call-centre working. Setting up home-based call-centre working has enabled them to tap into a pool of reliable recruits who are willing to work at this time so long as it does not take them away from their homes. BT is probably the largest flexible working company in the UK, and has perhaps done more than any to try to quantify the benefits to them. Business benefits can therefore stretch across a range of measures, and it is unwise to take a narrow approach. This is because flexible working is often conceived narrowly, as a family-friendly measure to help out with childcare.
