Homeworking key to competing with India

And it's better than money, say employees

UK businesses must improve their working practices or else they will be at the mercy of China and India's "tiger economies", BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland has warned.

In a speech opening Work Wise Week, Bland said BT already has more than 11,500 home-based workers, and has millions of customers which either already do, or soon will, work in that way.

He warned: "China and India are already major players on the world scene and this region alone is investing so heavily in technology and education that it will outstrip anything we have seen to date both in terms of reduced costs and product differentiation. We will be left standing if we don't change some of our cost structures."

Many workers would be in favour of more flexible working. One in three workers would swap a salary increase for more flexible working options, according to research commissioned by BT.

Workers in London are most keen to attain a better work/life balance, with 37 per cent of respondents in the capital willing to miss a pay rise in order to be able to work flexible hours. In contrast, people in Humberside, the northwest and Yorkshire are least keen on the idea - with just 23 per cent of workers in each region prepared to consider it.

According to the survey of 1,000 employers, directors of smaller businesses see the benefits of flexible working policies with 65 per cent citing staff motivation and 50 per cent increased productivity as key reasons to adopt them.

More than half (59 per cent) of small business directors believe they are as able as large organisations to embrace a flexible working culture.

Young people also prefer flexible working with 43 per cent of 18- to 30-year-olds willing to consider lower pay to work at home, compared to 31 per cent of the over 50s.