VoIP phones could help meet flexible working rules

Proposals to introduce new rights to request flexible working could have some companies looking to VoIP phones as a way of keeping home-based employees engaged in the office environment.

There are numerous potential benefits to VoIP phones, including cheaper internal calling, the ability to assign extension numbers to specific handsets on the network and the portability of those numbers if the person is working away from their desk for any length of time.

As part of the Modern Workplaces announced this week by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the government is looking at ways to ensure flexible working conditions are available to all.

Vince Cable, business secretary, says: "Our proposals will encourage greater choice by giving employees and their employers the flexibility to find arrangements to suit them both."

Further proposals include a shake-up of maternity and paternity rights, allowing the time off work to be shared by the parents - to let them stagger their out-of-work periods or schedule them to coincide.