There has never been a better time for organisations to drive change from within and position themselves for "the new economy". Movement is occurring globally as companies are increasingly called upon to consider their impact not only on sustainable profitability but two other critical areas - their human capital and their carbon footprint.

Preparing and structuring businesses to respond to today's market consolidation and to future needs in the areas of flexible work practices and environmental corporate responsibility is essential. Understanding that success equals achievement of the triple bottom line - People, Profit and Environment will be what separates Market Leaders from mediocrity. The time to decide where you will be is right now!

The Chartered Management Institute in the UK has published a report, "The World in 2018", which very aptly describes how the work place will look moving forward and how successful companies will need to operate to address these shifts.

"Community based"; "increasingly flexible and transient workforce" and "multigenerational, multicultural and remote" are some of the phrases used in the report to describe the future workplace and what we, as organisations must prepare for. Australia has taken the first step towards flexibility by making "the right to request" legal foremployees who meet certain criteria. It perhaps did not go far enough some would say!

What does the UK report have to do with the Environment you say? Everything! The time to consider ones carbon footprint is now and it must be done in conjunction with working in a new economy. This is not a matter for the faint hearted. Some large organisations have already started to look at their impact as a result of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) but we cannot stop there.

Decisions made will impact a number of different areas including business process, workforce make up and supply chain. Questions such as:

• How can we change the way we work so that it is output based?
• By how much will my carbon footprint be reduced if part or my entire workforce is flexible?
• What incentives and programs do we put in place around employee transportation?
• Where do we set up our "community based" environments so we can capture customers and employees?

There is no doubt the way we work will change! How far that is depends on how proactive and visionary our leadership is.

Need support in exploring and addressing these issues further? Contact Liana Gorman at Part Time Online on 0423 45 11 45 or liana@parttimeonline.com.au