A 'Snow Skiver' survey from TANDBERG revealed that a quarter (25%) of UK workers considered themselves less effective working from home during the recent snowfall. In fact, 24% even admitted to secretly looking forward to the snow as an excuse to not go into work.

According to the survey, conducted for TANDBERG by GfK NOP from 8-10th January 2010, the biggest snow skivers are single people, aged 35-44 that usually work full-time and live in Northern Ireland. Yet, it is Scottish workers aged 24-34 years that claim to be less effective being at home rather than their usual place of work.

Simon Egan, VP for TANDBERG in Western Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa explained, "While these statistics are very revealing and interesting, they are probably only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to business continuity and contingency planning issues. The extreme weather conditions combined with the transport strikes and health threats this winter are forcing a much needed break in past practices for many British businesses."

According to TANDBERG, during disasters such as flooding, pandemic outbreak panic or snow, communication and collaboration are absolutely fundamental to business success, and organisations should be equipping key workers with video conferencing to work more effectively remotely. The ability to conduct 'business as usual' has a significant impact to both productivity and profitability. This is giving many organisations cause to consider a new way of working; with video conferencing much of last week's loss in productivity could have been easily avoided.

"The UK should adopt this technology as part of the daily work routine rather than scramble to cope when leaves fall on train tracks or employees are snowed in," continued Egan. "Video conferencing delivers serious business advantage and consistent return on investment, regardless of the country's infrastructural problems. This is critical to the way we conduct business right now, not just in the future."

"Flexible working is not, and should not be, an ad hoc activity or one-day wonder. The advantages of flexible and remote working are plentiful and businesses need to focus on the bigger picture: productivity," concluded Egan.

About the 'Snow Skiver' Survey

The 'Snow Skiver' survey was conducted on behalf of TANDBERG UK by GfK NOP between 8th and 10th January 2010. Findings are derived from 591 full and part-time working adults aged 16 years and above.

See full article: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/a-quarter-of-uk-workers-less-effective-during-heavy-snowfall,1117792.shtml