Mass office exodus?

Thursday May 15th could see offices across the UK lie empty as National Work from Home Day 2008 gets underway.

According to Onrec.com, it is estimated that five million people will take advantage of the event and reap the benefits that working from home can bring, including avoiding the daily commute to work.

It is hoped that the event will highlight the fact that homeworking could increase business productivity, ease congestion and pollution and allow for a better work-life balance.

Mike Galvin of telecommunications giant BT said that he would definitely advise businesses to give flexible working a try, saying that he believes it will allow companies to remain competitive in a changing working environment.

"As a leader of flexible working in the UK, BT is seeing huge benefits both for the company and its people. It has been absolutely beneficial to increasing productivity and reduced our need for office space, resulting in annual savings of £88 million on overheads," he said, according to Onrec.com.

Work Wise UK, an advocate of smarter working practices, is currently promoting the day as part of Work Wise Week on its website and said that last year's event resulted in widespread media coverage.

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