There’s an increasing focus on the need to ensure people have access to not just jobs, but quality jobs, as a way to enable career progression, raise living standards and improve both social and job mobility. Our Regional Flexible Jobs Index reports seek to inform the debate and drive change at a local level.
Across the UK, policy makers with ambitious plans for regeneration and growth are keen to ensure that no one in their community is left behind. But the lack of good flexible jobs means that key groups of people (such as parents and carers, people with disabilities or older workers) are often trapped in low-paid roles or locked out of the jobs market altogether.
Timewise has been commissioned by some of the UK’s most forward-looking local authorities and policy makers to report on the availability of flexible roles within their regions. The research we’ve carried out so far has shown clearly that the demand for flexible roles dramatically outstrips the supply, and has provided the evidence to support the creation of strategies for systemic change.
However, gathering the evidence is just the first step. We’re also working closely with local leaders to bring these strategies to life, unlock their jobs markets to quality flexible roles, and so tackle issues of social mobility, gender and diversity, as well as a lack of career progression.
We are currently partnering with over 25 councils and other major public sector employers, who are acting as champions for change, both as employers and influencers. We’re also working with metro mayors and anchor institutions to support the drive for more flexible jobs, through social consultancy and job design programmes.
As the Social Mobility Commission highlighted in their recent report, local leaders have a key role to play in building routes out of low-paying roles and into higher, skilled positions, by thinking creatively about interventions that could help address career progression. The lack of good, flexible jobs is holding communities back; if you are a regional policy maker who is looking to develop an innovative strategy for inclusive growth, please get in touch.
Download our latest Regional Flexible Jobs Index, for West Yorkshire
