Risk news

UK businesses should make sure they are prepared for the London 2012 Olympics, whether it is practicing flexible working or putting leave request strategies in place.

With less than six months to go until the capital is inundated with an unprecedented number of extra visitors, companies should be thinking about the strain it will have on infrastructure.

The government has issued guidance on how to prepare and its own civil servants have been encouraged to undertake mobile and flexible working practices this week to test how they may work.

O2 is one business which has taken the advice seriously and closed its main office for the day and instructing its 3,000 staff to work remotely.

Other companies may look towards O2's findings in order to influence strategies to cope with the disruption, as the mobile giant's initiative is the biggest example of flexible working en masse.

Ben Dowd, business director at O2, said: "Today's office-wide flexible working initiative is an opportunity for us to take the next step on our flexible working journey and tangibly demonstrate the opportunity and potential available to British businesses today."

Workers are being encouraged to work from home during wherever possible the Games in order to stem the number of people using public transport at peak times.

Further to this employers are being encouraged to allow flexible working hours so that staff can travel to work at times when the services are expected to be less busy.

It is thought that such practices may be one of the legacies of the Olympics as businesses realise that the benefits are far reaching.

Money and energy can be saved by mobile and flexible working and the Games are likely to start habits which employees decide to carry on afterwards.

Recent advancements in technology have made remote working easier and more productive than ever before.