By Emma Stewart, Co-Founder
At Timewise, we don’t believe that flexibility should come at any price; our focus is on delivering good quality flexible roles. But, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies stated in their 2018 report, “not working full time tends to shut down wage progression.” As a result, too many people end up trapped in entry-level roles, which are poorly paid, because they can’t get the flexibility they need higher up the scale.
One sector that illustrates this perfectly is retail. It employs around three million people, and has a higher incidence of low pay than any other sector. According to the British Retail Consortium’s 2020 research, flexibility in working hours is one of the main reasons people choose to work in the sector – but 56% of retail employees believe they are less likely to get promoted if they work part time.
As a first step towards tackling this problem, we partnered with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and five major retailers to run our Retail Pioneers programme, a piece of action research followed by a written report. Launched last May, it set out to help each retailer understand what was getting in the way of flexibility at store management level, and then design and develop management roles with compatible flexibility built in.
As my colleague Amy Butterworth explains elsewhere, the programme has already begun to deliver real change for our pioneer partners, with each of them taking action to design flexible jobs differently. And that’s brilliant – but it’s not the end of the story. Our initial learnings can also be used by the rest of the retail sector and beyond, to tackle the structural barriers that prevent the progression of low-paid part-time workers. For example:
Initially, some of the pioneers were uncertain about working so closely with other retailers. But as the programme progressed, the benefits of the group approach became clear. The pioneers got valuable insights from sharing their experiences, and regularly challenged each other’s assumptions and assertions.
We all know by now (or we should) that the lack of women in senior roles contributes to the gender pay gap. But that doesn’t mean we should focus all our attention on moving women from middle-management upwards.
Helping women progress from entry-level roles to line management – as our retail pioneers are now doing – will also help close the gap. And building more gender-balanced workplaces makes good business sense for employers too.
During the programme, our five pioneers all came to the same conclusion: that building flexibility into management roles could aid progression for retail team members, enabling them to maximise their skills whilst retaining their flexibility.
However, each retailer had different factors to take into account, and so needed to develop their own individual solution, grounded in their own business. When it comes to flexible job design, there is no one-size-fits-all solution; each organisation needs to take a bespoke approach based on its specific data and drivers.
So far, so good. But, as useful as these learnings are, they need to be championed at a macro level if they’re to deliver real, systemic change.
I’m kick-starting this by joining a government taskforce looking at flexible working, in response to the Taylor Review on modern work. However, far more needs to done by government, employers and industry bodies to create better quality part-time and flexible roles.
Many employers are unaware that the lack of part-time and flexible options at management level traps skilled, ambitious employees in low-paid jobs. And even those who agree that flex is the answer may not know how to get started or, in tight margin sectors, have the resources to do so.
If we are going to answer the Taylor Review’s call for better flexible work which benefits both employers and employees, delivered at scale, then we need more involvement and investment from government, civic society, and other industry bodies. Here’s what needs to happen:
Our work has highlighted a real lack of evidence about what works, without which it will be difficult to persuade employers to take – and critically, invest in – action. It has also revealed the importance of having a road map which sets out HOW employers can design better flexible and part-time jobs, at all levels.
If we are serious about building a fairer jobs market, and helping people trapped in low-paid roles to progress their careers and raise their living standards, we need government to commit to investing in it. This will allow us to test a range of approaches and use our findings to incentivise further business action, something which is particularly critical in low-margin sectors where the business case for change is not well established.
At a regional level, LEPs and metro mayors also have a part to play in sharing good practice and stimulating action to create better quality part-time jobs. This will support their inclusive growth strategies and help create fairer workplaces.
Our Retail Pioneers programme has benefitted hugely from our partnership with the BRC. They played a pivotal role in helping us get the programme off the ground, and are continuing to work with us to develop practical flexible working solutions.
Most industries have an equivalent organisation or body; the more of them that invest in championing flexible working, the greater the impact will be.
Our pioneers found that taking a deep dive into their workforce data threw up some surprises; in the words of Lesley Ballantyne from The John Lewis Partnership, “the programme has brought issues to the surface that we previously only had an inkling of.” Our consultancy team offer a flexible audit which can help support this process.
Underpinning all this, we need a space in which innovative practice can be designed and developed. We invest in innovation for R&D and technology; it’s time we started investing in innovation for designing good quality work. So this autumn, we’re launching the Timewise Innovation Unit, to create a forum in which this can happen.
By doing so, we will be able to help more employers design the flexible jobs that will progress their workers, maximise their skills and ultimately create more productive workplaces. I’m really looking forward to driving this change through the Innovation Unit, and I hope you’ll get involved; watch this space.
To find out more or get involved with the Timewise Innovation Unit, please contact Emma on 020 7633 4552 or email emma.stewart@timewisefoundation.org.uk
Published May 2018
