Wokingham Borough Council introduced a homeworking policy in order to rationalise office space and reduce rental costs. Early data gathering identified roles which would be suitable for homeworking, while a Smart Working Project Manager was put in place to address personal concerns employees had about moving from static office based work to agile and homeworking. Smart working champions, early adopters of homeworking, were recruited to address staff concerns on the basis of their own personal experience.
Over the first two years the initiative has achieved a staff to desk ratio of approximately 1.6, with 600 staff working from home at least part of the week. The initiative delivers annual savings of approximately £50,000, and 80% of staff working from home feel they are more productive than they were (Carbon Trust, 2014). Employee satisfaction has also improved with staff members reporting that team meetings have become more focused and build on team spirit and motivation; while sickness absence is down from 5.43 FTE days per person to 3.54 FTE days per person in areas with Smart Working (Flexibility, 2013).