Telecommuting in London to soar with summer temps

The dog days of summer have arrived early across Europe this year, and employers in London are taking pity by letting more workers telecommute, according to U.K. broadband services company Telewest Group.

Telewest, which supplies broadband services to businesses and government clients in Britain, said Wednesday that use of its virtual private network services, which gives employees access to company networks, climbed by more than 20 percent in the first half of the year. Telewest business clients also increased bandwidth services for home and remote workers by 23 percent during that time.

The company attributes those statistics to a surge in telecommuting, a trend it expects will accelerate this summer as a heat wave sweeps across much of Europe.

Londoners are particularly keen on telecommuting, Telewest said. More than 3 million people crowd onto the London Underground each weekday, according to the company. The average commute in the city is between 45 minutes and an hour, the company said.

"Faced with delays and searing heat on the tubes, traffic congestion on the major routes into the city, ineffectual air-conditioning in offices and the possibility of peak time congestion charges on the train, employees are working from home in ever-increasing numbers," Telewest said in a statement Wednesday.

Temperatures in London have neared 90 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, but cooled back down this week to the 70s.

Telewest, which also provides cable and phone services, said customers are forwarding more calls from business lines to home and mobile numbers. It also attributed a 21 percent increase in data and voice traffic on its business networks to a surge in telecommuting.

Telecommuting is on the rise in the United States as well. Last year in the United States, almost 30 million people telecommuted one or more days every couple of weeks, up about 10 percent from the previous year, estimates JALA International, a consulting firm focused on telecommuting.

[Andrew J Glina]

Odd

32 C / 90 F is a warm day in Australia...

[Andrew J Glina]

Odd

32 C / 90 F is a warm day in Australia...

[Stating]

London Sounds Like A 3rd World Country

What is it with Britain? Do they not know that air conditioning was invented 100 years ago by Willis Carrier? If they can't work normally in 90 degree outside temperature then they might as well throw in the economic towel. They will never win in the 21st century. Good god, get me a gin and tonic.

[Stating]

London Sounds Like A 3rd World Country

What is it with Britain? Do they not know that air conditioning was invented 100 years ago by Willis Carrier? If they can't work normally in 90 degree outside temperature then they might as well throw in the economic towel. They will never win in the 21st century. Good god, get me a gin and tonic.

England - the land of mediocre weather

First let me say I am/was a Brit - since Feb 13th 2004, I've been a first generation American. I've been living in Arizona for 12 years & we've had 100-110F for about a few weeks, and will have 100F+ for a 2-3 more months (somtimes peaking over 115F) - so I know about hot.

But England doesn't get extreme weather with any regularity. A bit of snow, some frost, quite a bit of rain (but not all that much at one time). Sometimes high winds.

As a result, it's not cost effective to prepare for any one type of weather - hence no a/c, inefficient heating, etc. There even the case of a train being late (a traditional pastime), because of "THE WRONG TYPE OF SNOW" & another was late because of "LEAVES ON THE TRACK".

I think this is the general reason for wingeing Pommes - life slowly grinds away at people & even a sunny day often only lasts a couple of hours, to add disappointment. It's tough living in England - that's why I don't (110F is easy-ish by comparison).

P.S. Did I mention that the country with the highest proportion of it's population living abroad is.....Britain. Can you guess why :-)

England - the land of mediocre weather

First let me say I am/was a Brit - since Feb 13th 2004, I've been a first generation American. I've been living in Arizona for 12 years & we've had 100-110F for about a few weeks, and will have 100F+ for a 2-3 more months (somtimes peaking over 115F) - so I know about hot.

But England doesn't get extreme weather with any regularity. A bit of snow, some frost, quite a bit of rain (but not all that much at one time). Sometimes high winds.

As a result, it's not cost effective to prepare for any one type of weather - hence no a/c, inefficient heating, etc. There even the case of a train being late (a traditional pastime), because of "THE WRONG TYPE OF SNOW" & another was late because of "LEAVES ON THE TRACK".

I think this is the general reason for wingeing Pommes - life slowly grinds away at people & even a sunny day often only lasts a couple of hours, to add disappointment. It's tough living in England - that's why I don't (110F is easy-ish by comparison).

P.S. Did I mention that the country with the highest proportion of it's population living abroad is.....Britain. Can you guess why :-)