Our five-step programme took the Trust from understanding their current approach to creating a flexible action plan. Here’s what they learned.
By Claire Campbell, Programme Director, Timewise
Like most NHS trusts, Royal Free London is coping with a perfect storm of pressures. The retention of staff, particularly nurses, is proving challenging all over the country, and is particularly hard in the capital, where living costs are high. Budget constraints are exacerbating the problem, forcing trusts to try and limit the use of costly agency staff. And at a societal level, an ageing workforce and the growing number of people who are juggling or facing caring responsibilities means that filling all the necessary posts is only going to get harder.
So, with the interim NHS People Plan highlighting the need to “significantly increase flexible working through a combination of technology and a change in people practices,” Royal Free London sought an organisation with the credibility and experience to help them develop a more flexible culture. As Michelle Hickson, one of the trust’s HR Business Partners, explains:
“We had been following Timewise’s work with local authorities and were struck by the depth of their knowledge and credibility. We were also keen to benefit from both their nursing-specific experience and their cross-sector expertise. So we felt they were the right partner to help us future-proof our organisation through flexible working.”
The Timewise Accreditation Programme provides a clear framework for change, taking the organisation on a journey from understanding their current approach to identifying their future vision for flexible working to creating their improvement plan in five steps. Originally designed for local authorities, the new version, which Royal Free London piloted with us, is tailored to the specific needs of NHS Trusts.
The team set up a working group which included representatives from across their sites and disciplines, including clinical and non-clinical staff. They met regularly to keep up the momentum as they worked through each step of the process, identifying quick wins and long-term challenges that would lead to meaningful change. And they used their findings and our experience to present a credible case to the leadership team.
According to Michelle, the step-by-step nature of the programme was a definite plus. “The framework Timewise provided allowed us to break down what we needed to do into manageable chunks and tackle each one in a structured way, with the space to explore all the issues and design workable solutions.”
And at every stage, they were supported by the Timewise team. We provided them with an external perspective on their current position, provided models and tools to structure their approach and used examples of best practice to ensure the improvement plan includes actions which will work. By partnering with the HR team throughout, we also ensured that the learning and skills will be embedded in the organisation.
Through our diagnostic work, the team identified that, while there were already some examples of good practice, they tended to be local rather than part of an organisational approach. It also became clear that having a formal policy and responding to requests wasn’t enough; that a more proactive approach, backed up by a clear offer for different staff groups, plus a vision and strategy, was needed.
The work also highlighted the need for robust evidence and examples to ensure leadership buy-in, and for guidance to support line managers in implementing it successfully. It reinforced their view that different teams would need different solutions, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
The team then pulled all their learning into an improvement plan, with specific objectives including:
Their long term objective is to increase the % of staff who report in the staff survey that they are satisfied with their access to flexible working from 50% in 2019 to 65% by December 2021.
As a result of their clear and actionable improvement plan, and senior level commitment to implementing it, Royal Free London were formally accredited in November 2019. They are keen to be advocates of the value of flexible working, and believe that being the first Timewise Accredited Trust is a clear demonstration of their commitment.
They are also clear about the benefits of working with Timewise. As Michelle explains: “We believe that flexible working should underpin all our people priorities, and will help deliver an empowered workforce and a high trust culture. Working with Timewise has allowed us to create a strong business case and implement a clear action plan, with buy-in from throughout our organisation, which we are confident will deliver real change.”
Published February 2020
