Government backs new tool to smooth hybrid working

The government is putting up cash to back a new platform designed to smooth hybrid working.

Eight out of 10 working dads told our 2020 survey that they want to work flexibly going forward. Many enjoyed having more time at home and around their family during lockdown. However most also expected to spend at least some of their week in an office. The advent of widespread hybrid working is set to create headaches for bosses and line managers as they will have to ensure the right people are in the same place at the same time.

The team behind job share platform DuoMe have bagged investment from government backed Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund for their product called Flexibly.

Networking and creativity

Flexibly​ will enable businesses to optimise who is in the office, enhancing networking and creativity. For employees, ​Flexibly​ will help them better plan the type of work they will do depending on their location, either in the office or remote.

The creators of Flexibly also point to its benefits for equality and diversity and inclusion. Many working dads discovered this year what mums used to working from home already knew – being absent from the office could lead to a sense of dislocation at best and being overlooked for promotion and training at worst.

The DuoMe team claim ‘​Flexibly​ is an innovative location-aware team scheduling and collaboration system enabling distributed teams to have greater flexibility over their work schedules, to better manage where they plan to work and to optimise when and with whom time is spent in the office.’

Flexible working practices

Graham Joyce, Co-Founder of DuoMe, said​, “Fixed schedules lead to static groupings of the same people in the same office at the same time. A company’s culture is the mix of all its people, not just those in the office on Mondays. Catering for flexible working practices will not only maximise staff interactions remotely and physically but create a more equal playing field for a diverse workforce. We can’t sleepwalk into a situation where employees who are less present in the office or work on different days to other key stakeholders, miss out on opportunities. It will lead to the people who are remote most often or on fixed days getting promoted less or being overlooked.”

Innovate UK Executive Chair Dr Ian Campbell said, ​“In these difficult times we have seen the best of British business innovation. The pandemic is not just a health emergency but one that impacts society and the economy. DuoMe’s flexible working platform​,​ along with every initiative Innovate UK has supported through the Sustainable Innovation fund, is an important step forward in driving sustainable economic development. Each one is also helping to realise the ambitions of hard-working people.”

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