Small businesses lead the way in flexible working in the UK – often out of necessity. After all, if your staff roll is still in the 10s, do you really need (and can you afford) a full-time Finance Director or a full-time HR Director? And smaller businesses often need to be more adept at ducking and diving the highs and lows of customer demand.
To celebrate the successes of small businesses when it comes to flexible working, Timewise set out to find the ‘UKs most flexible small business’. We were looking for a small organisation that allowed all staff to work flexibly if it suited them. We also wanted to see the successful use of a wide variety of types of flexible working. And we wanted to showcase an employer where flexible working made a huge contribution to the smooth running of the business.
We found a worthy winner in Broad Lane Vets of Coventry.
More than half of the 40 employees at this vets’ practice work flexibly in some way. Company Director Elly Pittaway says that flexible working helps to cover the long shifts at the practice’s three different sites. It also helps to attract and retain staff in what is an increasingly feminised sector.
Published March 2015
