The Chartered Management Institute recently published a document called ‘The World in 2018’ - outlining what it believes to be the most probable picture of the world of work and management in 2018. The home as a place of work and business has a big part to play in this scenario planning.

This is what the Institute had to say about business models:

“Business models will change their nature, be more diverse, more customer-centric and change more quickly. We will see a polarisation of business models from global corporations to virtual-community-based enterprises. Large corporations will grow even bigger and there will be more small niche-oriented specialised associate businesses around.”

Auditel has been operating as a ‘virtual-community-based enterprise’ offering specialist niche services since 1994 so why wait until 2018 to be part of the new world of work? If you’d like to find out more about running your own Auditel consultancy, visit our website or call us on 0800 583 3355 for more information.

A survey of 500 small businesses by telecoms company O2 shows that since the beginning of the year nearly 10% have chosen not to renew the lease on their office or business premises, deciding instead to work remotely from home. They estimate that over 400,000 small businesses have stopped paying for premises since the onset of the credit crunch in November 2007 and that almost two thirds of those still working from a dedicated business premises are seriously thinking about quitting them within the year.

(more…)

Ridiculous as it seems thirty-eight years after the Equal Pay Act was first introduced, women in employment are still earning considerably less than their male counterparts. According to a report (“Closing the Gender Pay Gap”) published this week by the TUC, adult females in every age group are earning less than men of the same age. While female school-leavers going into full-time jobs earn 9.7% more than their male contemporaries, this positive difference is swiftly over-turned. By the time these same young women are in their twenties, their salary will be on average 3.3% lower than men in full-time employment, the gap rising to 11.2% in their thirties and a shocking 22.8% in their forties. (more…)

According to a survey carried out by the Chartered Management Institute, managers in UK organisations work an extra 40 days every year, while 9 out of 10 reported putting in at least an extra hour every day. Workload, deadlines and the expectations of bosses all contribute to the long working hours culture, meaning more and more of us are in the office long past the time when we would hope to be putting the kids to bed or having a civilised dinner with our partner. (more…)