Flexible Job Index 2021: A Timewise Roundtable

The event was hosted by our Development Director, Emma Stewart, and featured a panel of business leaders who provided their own insights and analysis about what they’re seeing on the ground, as well as their suggestions for what needs to be done to shift the dial. We’ve included a recording of the event below.

Among the key themes which emerged were:

• The recognition that the talent crisis is unlikely to be a flash in the pan, and that the business benefits of flexible hiring need to be better understood and more widely championed.

• The importance of training and supporting managers to design flexible jobs so they are fair and consistent, and to embed them successfully.

• The need for hiring managers to be proactive, not reactive, when talking about flexible working, so that the onus is not on candidates to ask.

• The need for employees’ lived experiences to live up to promises made during the recruitment process.

• The understanding that not all roles can be made flexible in the same way, and that that is OK as long as some kind of flex is made available to all.

Our thanks got to our panel for sharing their insights and experience: Neil Carberry, CEO, The Recruitment and Employment Confederation; Jonny Briggs, Head of Talent Acquisition and D&I, Aviva; Farrah Ekeroth, Head of Employer Brand, EY and Jane Galloway, Head of Flexible Working, NHS England.