Businesses have been encouraged to look into work from home options for their employees now, in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

City AM broached the subject with the Transport for London and London 2012 Travel Advice for Business teams earlier this month. They were advised to seriously consider allowing their employees to work from home during this time due to the pressure that will be exerted on the capital's transport system during the Games.

“Current technology enables businesses to provide this option to staff that will otherwise face long journeys to work during the Games. Review your current equipment and internal policies so that you can manage requests to work from home quickly and easily,” the teams advised.

They added that tools for planning flexible and remote working are available from the London 2012 website, along with research into employee behaviour in relation to different working and commuting practices.

In addition, it is worth considering a secure private network in order to allow employees to access the intranet and internally hosted data from home. Regardless of this, broadband internet access is “essential”, while audio conferencing is also useful to help people stay in touch.