Extreme weather, tube strikes, G20 protests, postal disruption: recent events have highlighted the need for all small businesses to be able to work away from the office. Imerja’s Mark Evans looks back at an eventful year for small firms.

Driving down cost is at the centre of most business decisions these days. Innovative firms have looked to implement flexible benefits to replace bonuses and help retain key employees. At the same time, a recent catalogue of man-made and natural crises has seen the mobile working revolution gather momentum. Businesses are increasingly recognising tangible benefits from working away from the office and have begun to see it as an essential part of an overall business continuity strategy.

A YouGov survey revealed that the recent extreme weather affected over 70% of workers in the UK and over a hundred million working hours have been lost by staff not being able to make it into the office or having a much longer commute than normal. The recent heavy snow has merely served to highlight the need for businesses to have flexible working in place; many events last year also demonstrated this very same point.

Anyone using the UK motorway infrastructure on a regular basis will have experienced gridlock, and probably frustration at being unproductive for long periods as the chaos clears. Although we may reluctantly accept the daily inconvenience of travel disruption and delay as part of working life, there is a direct cost to business.

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