Now in its fourth year, the list celebrates the UK’s top 50 men and women who are at the top of their professions whilst working a non-traditional week. The final list will be revealed at the end of the year, with an exclusive awards reception held at Facebook’s London offices.
Three in four workers in Britain do not believe it is possible to have a successful part time career1. Yet the statistics prove that isn’t the case. A decade and half into the 21st Century, and there is an emerging work pattern being forged by skilled men and women who, for whatever reason, are choosing not to work full time.
More than eight million people in the country – almost one quarter of the workforce – work fewer than five days a week, of whom five million are doing so by choice. Of these, 650,000 are earning salaries of £40,000 FTE (full time equivalent) or more2.
This year, Co-founder Karen Mattison MBE is calling for fresh examples of future-forward businesses who support top level careers on less than full time hours, and is today calling for employers to be more open about the opportunities and highlight their examples of best practice.
This year’s Timewise Power Part Time List is brought to you in partnership with EY.
Selected by a panel of business gurus, over the last three years the list has featured a range of inspirational individuals who work in business critical, senior-levels jobs, who have proved that they can excel at work without being tied to their desks five days a week.
Recent winners have included Katie Bickerstaffe, Chief Executive Officer of UK and Ireland Dixons at Dixons Carphone plc; Clare Turnbull, Managing Director at Nomura; Thomasina Miers, Co-Founder of restaurant chain Wahaca; Alison Lomax, Head of Brand Solutions at Google; and Richard Lanyon-Hogg, Technical Director at IBM UK.
In addition to Karen Mattison of Timewise, the judging panel for this year will compromise:
Nominations open from today (11 June 2015) and close in September. A form can be obtained by visiting www.timewise.co.uk/power-part-time, calling 0207 633 4553 or emailing powerparttime@timewise.co.uk.
Timewise Co-Founder Karen Mattison MBE, who has led and judged the initiative from the start says: “The calibre of people on the Timewise Jobs Power Part Time list continues to debunk the myth that you cannot work a top level job on a part time basis. The world has moved on. Not only are most innovative and future-forward employers using flexibility as a tool to retain brilliant people, but many are starting to use it to attract brand new talent too.”
Mattison, a former CEO with three children, set out to find a senior level part time job herself, ten years ago. She says: “I looked for role models, but couldn’t find any open examples of people who worked less than five days per week who directed large teams, handled major client relationships or held P&L responsibilities. My frustration led me to launch Timewise Jobs – the UK’s first market place for candidates who want some flexibility on where and when they work. I began meeting amazing ‘Power Part Timers’ from marketing chiefs, to finance directors, to MDs, who worked part time – but didn’t want people to know. Some were concerned about losing their hard won flexibility; others about being seen as less ambitious. In reality, many were driving business performance, from the top.”
She continues: “We launched the search for the Power Part Time Top 50, seeking out open role models of people who work flexibly in amazing, unexpected jobs – and who are happy to talk openly about their patterns of work in a bid to help others. Four years on, our list continues to change the conversation from what is perceived as impossible when working flexibly, to what is possible.”
Lynn Rattigan, Chief Operating Officer at EY, UK & Ireland, who is supporting this year’s list, says: “The way we are working is changing. The age of presenteeism is being replaced by flexibility, where people are increasingly measured on their outputs rather than the time they spend in the office.
“But such a change is a significant cultural shift for most organisations across the country. Real-life examples of talented individuals who are working flexibly, as featured in the Power Part Time List, will help companies realise what can be achieved when people are given greater choice over how, when and where they work and the benefits that follow.”
The 2015 Timewise Power Part Time List is brought to you in partnership with EY, and also supported by Diageo and five executive search partners: JCA Group, MWM Consulting, Russell Reynolds Associates, Spencer Stuart and The Zygos Partnership.
Published June 2015
Please contact JO Burkill via press@timewise.co.uk
1 Nationally representative survey of 2,000 workers conducted by ICM on behalf of Timewise in May 2012. ‘Senior level’ is defined as £40,000+ FTE.
2 Source: Data is taken from the ASHE salary data published by the Office for National Statistics.
Timewise (www.timewise.co.uk) is the UK’s first market place for candidates who want some flexibility on where and when they work.
Experts in flexible hiring, with 10 years of experience,Timewise is led by founders Karen Mattison and Emma Stewart, CEO, who have been made MBEs and won a range of awards for their work (see below).
Timewise runs multiple services designed to boost the number of jobs that are advertised with flexible working possibilities in the UK.
The Group’s four business divisions include:
1. Timewise, consultancy working with businesses to help them make flexible working a commercial success – sharing market insights, delivering training and consultancy and sharing research
2. Timewise Jobs (www.timewisejobs.co.uk) the UK’s first national jobs board exclusively for roles which are part time or open to flexibility, with over 70,000 registered candidates
3. Timewise Foundation, market making through sharing learnings with policy makers, opinion formers and employer networks. This public affairs work promotes the social and business benefits of quality part time and flexible work, aiming to influence both the mainstream recruitment market and public policy
Timewise’s work has been recognised by thought leaders, policy makers and the business community, including: Resolution Foundation, the Confederation of British Industry, the Greater London Authority, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Cabinet Office, the Recruitment Employment Confederation, the Chartered Institute for Professional Development and the British Chamber of Commerce.
Organisations that have advertised jobs through us, or used our consultancy service, include EY, Diageo, ITV, Sony Entertainment, Macmillan Cancer Support, McDonalds, EasyJet and more.
Karen and Emma have been named ‘Breaking the Mould’ award winners by the Institute of Directors (November 2014), ‘Women Changing the Business World’ by the IoD’s Director magazine (February 2014), two of the UK’s ‘Top 50 Radicals’ by the Observer and NESTA (Feb 2012), two of the ‘most exciting social entrepreneurs to watch’ by Real Business Magazine, and named ‘Small Business Heroes’ by Management Today (May 2013).
