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success purple coastDo you see flexible work arrangements as an inconvenience?

You're not alone. And yet businesses in Australia and abroad are turning to telework because of its capacity to increase staff commitment and productivity and deliver fantastic business outcomes.

Australia's most successful flexible working companies are big businesses.

However many small businesses are using remote working technologies to build a happier team.

 

 

 

 

These two success stories show how a proactive approach to flexible work delivers powerful business results:

1. Virtual call centre with incredible customer service

Ruth MacKay is the Managing Director at OURTEL Solutions, a virtual call centre provider serving the Australian business community since 2008. Ruth has around 30 staff members who work from locations across Australia and New Zealand. They offer inbound and outbound calls for sales, appointment setting, membership drives and fundraising services.

The company recently won a contract with a huge, high profile client – an organisation that had been highly resistant to do fundraising by telephone. The client was won over by the delivery model, citing OurTel Solutions' mature workers who are able to protect the company's brand.

Ruth believes her company's current market leader position to the calibre of her staff – a loyal complement of mature workers who can be trusted to deliver outcomes that exceed the best her competitors can provide.

"Our workers love the remote work model – they feel they can work from where they are, without having to travel a huge distance. Using technology to stay connected, we're able to attract and keep fantastic people because we offer a working arrangement they absolutely want," says Ruth.

 

2. Charity providing services across locations

Jon Dee is the co-Founder and Managing Director of DoSomething! – a national charity that builds alliances between businesses, government and the community to solve environmental and community problems. He also co-owns a company developing a personal organiser software on the iPad for small business owners.

Six months ago, he changed the charity business structure to a distributed work model. He saved money by moving to a smaller office near his home and mainly hires freelancers now.

"The office overhead for our charity are now a third of what they once were," says Jon.

"With my iPad software company, my business partner is based in Russia and we've not had a conventional office for that set up, so the overhead costs there are minimal too."

But cost savings isn't the only benefit Jon gets.

"The fact that we don't have a Sydney office does not impede us in any way. Reducing our office overhead now allows us to get the best people for the job, regardless of where they are located. We have great systems and use Skype a lot – as a result the work becomes more outcomes-based," he says.

 

Do Something! recently scored a big media partnership deal with NewsCorp, which he puts down to the flexible way they do business:

"Telling people how different and cheaply we're operating has been good for business – people want to know, what are the alternatives? We're no longer tied to major cities to get our work done. We can get a better balance between work and family time."

Would he make the change again to a remote working arrangement with his staff?

"Definitely. Everything has turned out far better than I expected it to."

These successful organisations know that flexible work is anything but a cost to their business.

What can your business achieve by using flexible work as a strategic business tool?

 

Nina Sochon
Nina Sochon is the CEO of Transformed Teams - a training, coaching and consulting firm creating incredibly successful professional teams. Receive your free Team Health Check for Conventional and Virtual Teams.