Homes for the working week

Challenging Times - Key Questions with Innovative solutions for Corporate Business & the Relocation Industry

• Is the average working week from Monday to Friday?
• Are some employees working away from home from Monday to Friday?
• Are they happy living in a hotel and having no social life?
• Is there a shortage of serviced accommodation in cities outside London?
• Are you trying to manage a series of projects successfully in a variety of locations without necessarily relocating staff?
• Do you manage customer contracts in locations where talent has to be imported?
• Are you seeing a rise in the level of commuting assignments – either within the UK or into the UK from Europe?

If any of the above questions strike a chord with you, MondaytoFriday.com might solve some, if not all, of your problems when you are managing staffing issues in other locations.

The challenge that HR Departments and Relocation Providers face in the current climate doesn’t always mean ‘relocation’ but more often relates to ‘assignments’ or some form of ‘short-term delegation’ to another place of work.

At the same time, Companies have to nurture their existing talent and retain it to keep pace with growing and developing businesses. The project-based move is happening more and more and we should perhaps treat this more like a short term project in itself.

And moreover, as a result of some of these ‘emerging circumstances’ and tricky decisions that people have to make, family lives are becoming complicated and sometimes disruptive. This can affect staff morale, motivation and impact on work/life balance together with the associated costs.

Mondaytofriday.com is a web portal to add to the list of solutions which both HR and Relocation Providers may find useful, cost effective and easy to put in place.

The web site offersweekday rental for professional people– usually Monday to Friday, but often Monday to Thursday and other variants as agreed between each landlord and lodger. This innovation not only beats the daily commute,often saving up to two hours ormore each way, but also offers greatcareerflexibility. For example, “mondaytofridayers” oftentake upassignments and contracts they might not otherwise consider due to distance andbeing able to return totheir family homesat the weekend.Or they use the service as an interim solution while considering a relocation opportunity. Lodgersgenerally save considerably on the cost of their rental, paying only for the nights they occupy; while landlords can earn tax-free savings of £81.70eachweek under the government’s rent-a-room scheme and in addition, they re-acquire their living spaceback each weekend.

And there are other benefits for everyone - both sides are finding that it’s more than just cutting costs and commute times – for a lodger, it’s far more relaxing than a soulless hotel or B&B and landlords have the priceless benefit of getting their privacy back at the weekend. Each arrangement is different. Some lodgers and landlords may want to socialise with each other - others go about their lives in parallel.

All personal information remains confidential on the site with only Landlords having access to their own postings, and no data is made public. Initial lodger-to-landlord contact is via email and run through mondaytofriday.com. Thereafter, any exchange of contact details is at the discretion of each landlord and lodger.

Since its launch in 2004, mondaytofriday.com has continued to grow and develop and the website now manages over 1000 “mondaytofridayers” at any one time. It also offers a wealth of advisory, legal and ‘streetwise’ information - including contract templates - to help prospective landlords and lodgers make successful choices.

Mondaytofriday.com now looks forward to working with the Relocation and Corporate market to provide even more innovative solutions to the questions posed at the beginning of this article.

Find out more at www.mondaytofriday.com or call Judy Niner on 0845 130 5145.

© 2007 of Re:locate magazine, published by Profile Locations, Spray Hill, Hastings Road, Lamberhurst, Kent TN3 8JB. All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of Profile Locations. Profile Locations accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.