The benefits of homeworking and other flexible call centre employment practices could be cancelled out if such strategies are not effectively integrated with other aspects of business, a new report warns.
According to a study by the Cranfield School of Management, a high degree of informal flexible working was observed across the seven blue-chip firms surveyed.
"In spite of its benefits, flexible working should not be seen as an add-on activity and other human resources policies may need to be adjusted in order to ensure they support flexible working," said Dr Clare Kelliher, co-author of the report and senior lecturer at the institution.
The majority of staff members who had engaged with flexible working reported either a positive impact or no impact on their performance, the study found.
Flexible workers reportedly had higher degrees of commitment to their organisation, while the availability of such strategies was named as a key competitive strategy within the jobs market.
A new pilot project is to see BT test out homeworking for call centre agents in Scotland.
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