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2012: the year of flexible working?

Published in: Back To Work, Careers Fairs, Changing Careers, Rights & Benefits, Women in the Workforce, Working Family,

Date: January 19, 2012 Author: Workingmums.co.uk Email to friend

Flexible working is looking likely to feature large in 2012.

In November, transport minister Norman Baker announced the formation of the ‘Anywhere Working’ consortium to help British employers understand the benefits of providing flexible working environments and to enable employees to access the tools that they need to work in a more flexible way.

And just before Christmas, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation launched a Flexible Work Commission to promote the business case for flexible working and address the practical issues around managing it. It is due to report by mid-year, just in time for the Olympics where flexible working will feature big.

Already, it is suggested that many of the big City firms are offering homeworking to help their employees beat the anticipated Olympic travel congestion. Many of these firms already promote flexible working, but offering it on such a large scale could hasten a much wider cultural shift.

Morever, 2012 is likely to see the government announce whether it is extending flexible work legislation to all employees. Its Modern Workplaces consultation speaks of the business benefits of flexible working and the importance of spreading good practice.

Many organisations now have several members of staff on flexible contracts, yet it can still be hard to find a new flexible job, mainly because it is still viewed by many as an employee perk. Indeed, it has been marketed that way in the past. Moreover, many organisations introduce it on a piecemeal basis – individual by individual – rather than looking to change their whole working culture.

In so doing, they miss out on many of its broader business advantages, for instance, the savings that can be made in office overheads and estate costs by encouraging employees across the board to work in a more mobile way, either from home, at local business hubs or on the move.

In the past, flexible working has also been seen very much as a female thing, in part due to the right to request legislation, and some still regard it is as essentially part-time working. That is very much not the case any more. Workingmums.co.uk’s annual survey in fact shows that the most favoured form of flexible working is flexi hours, where an employee, for instance, starts early and finishes early. Nowadays there are all sorts of permutations of flexible working, including homeworking, term time only working and compressed hours where you work, for example, four longer days a week.

It also used to be viewed as a career siding, but this is changing too. Ilaria Gregotti is a case in point. She was appointed Director, People and Change, at the global consulting firm KPMG just over a year ago. She works four days a week, leaving home at around 7.45am and returning just before 8pm except on the numerous evenings she has to meet clients.

The way she has managed to balance work and family life is by not giving up on her aspiration to progress with her career, whilst at the same time setting realistic goals for herself and accepting that work is only a part of her life and that there will be moments when she cannot give it 100%.

She says: “Being open with your organisation about the challenges that you may be facing at any point in time is critical to maintaining a healthy relationship with your employer.”

She hopes that her experience can encourage other women. “My career is proof that having children and working part time does not need to slow down your career,” she says, although she adds that it is important for both work and individual working mums to be realistic about their expectations.

She gives an example: “If you are a consultant and you are measured on client delivery and sales, an internal role after having a child is a great option to stay in a career, but you should not expect it to necessarily deliver grade progression.”

Some of the big corporates have been leading lights in the promotion of flexible working, but SMEs and even micro-businesses are also coming around to how flexible working can be used to their benefit. One IT business Hireserve has prospered by recruiting experienced staff on a part-time basis to fulfil roles such as marketing and accounts.

They hired top calibre people and only had to pay them for two to three days a week, which was all they needed as the business grew. As the employees’ children grew, they found they could devote more time to the business which was also growing. Karen Ovenden, a director of Hireserve, says: “It is not rocket science to make it work. If you find the right people everyone wins. That has been our experience.”

Many organisations have got the message on flexible working and they see that this will get them the top quality staff who will make the difference for them, but a significant number are still wary and in straitened economic times, employees can be cautious about asking for anything perceive to be out of the ordinary.

However, survey after survey shows employees young and old value flexibility above other benefits. They are also key in persuading their employer of its benefits. When they ask for flexible working, for instance, they need to present it as a win win situation. There is plenty of advice around on how to do this.

Workingmums LIVE [www.workingmumslive.co.uk], a one-stop shop on all things flexible working which takes place in London in March, aims to put employers in direct contact with experienced individuals who can keep their organisation ahead of the game. It includes a series of workshops on everything from negotiating flexible working to working for yourself as a freelance or contractor, a growing trend as technology enables more people to be their own boss.

Events like this are vital to push the flexible working agenda forward in 2012 and to ensure flexible working moves from being viewed as a perk for some employees to being the norm for 21^st century workers.

Image: Shutterstock

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By Workingmums.co.uk

Mandy Garner is editor of Workingmums.co.uk, the UK's number one female-focused jobs and community site. The site advertises flexible…

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