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
By Melissa Jamieson, CEO, Timewise
There’s no question that attitudes to flexible working have undergone a seismic shift as a result of the pandemic, and working practices are being transformed as a result. An IOD survey from April 2021 showed that over 60% of organisations plan to adopt hybrid working even after restrictions ease, and employee demand for flexible working is higher than ever, with more than 71% of UK workers saying they want flexible options to remain after the crisis has passed.
And yet, despite all the focus on new ways of working, attitudes towards flexible recruitment don’t seem to be adapting to match. The 2020 Timewise Flexible Jobs Index revealed that, even after the shift towards homeworking following the first lockdown, just 22% of jobs were being advertised as being flexible in some way.
So there’s a real opportunity here for forward-looking employers to offer potential candidates the flexibility they want – and reap the rewards.
If the success of a business rests on its people, attracting a talented, diverse pool of candidates is critical. And with demand as high as it is now, offering these opportunities up front clearly makes sense. Not only will it help put you at the top of candidates’ wish lists, it will also deliver a more committed, more inclusive workforce, and help close your gender pay gap.
And on a more macro level, flexible recruitment plays a vital role in enhancing your employer brand. By openly offering flexible working to candidates, you’ll send a clear message that you are an employer who prioritises employee wellbeing. You’ll show you understand what work-life balance actually means. You’ll also encourage candidates to believe that, if they join your company, they can bring their whole selves to work.
The knock-on effect of all of this is that the best candidates won’t just apply to work for you; they’ll actively seek you out. And with skills shortages on the rise, not to mention a growing sense that a ‘Great Resignation’ is coming, that kind of brand positioning will give you a real edge in the battle for talent.
So, how do you embed flexible recruitment into your organisation, and make sure everyone knows about it? Here are the four initial steps you should take:
Train managers to design and recruit for properly flexible roles
Employees are quick to see through ‘flexwashing’ – that is, implying that you’re up for flexible working without adapting your roles to make it viable. So make sure the jobs you’re advertising are designed so that they can genuinely be done on a flexible basis, and train up HR and line managers in interviewing and supporting your new recruits. If you need support with this, our consultancy team can help.
Make sure external teams are properly briefed
If you’re using a recruitment agency to help you in your talent search, it’s critical that they are on board with your thinking. They need to be clear that you are not just willing, but proactive about recruiting flexibly; otherwise all your hard work will be undermined. So:
Partner with flexible recruitment experts
An easy way to make sure your recruitment partners mirror your approach is to work with a flexible-focused jobs site, such as Timewise Jobs. As well as providing access to 90,000 high-calibre candidates, our team can help you phrase your position on flexible working in the most appealing way. And of course, posting your job on Timewise Jobs sends a clear message that you are an inclusive, flexible employer.
Speak out about your approach
Finally, once your flexible recruitment strategy is in place, and working, speak out about what you’re doing. Share stories about flexible workers on your website. Write up case studies of successful flexible recruitment campaigns and publish them on LinkedIn. Sponsor awards or campaigns, such as the Timewise Power 50.
Again, this is something the Timewise Jobs team can help with. As well as boosting your presence on our site with traditional display ads, we can help you build a microsite which links to your company profile, create a content strategy and deliver an email campaign. These elements all work together to ensure that your brand story is well put-together and clearly communicated.
As a candidate recently said to one of the Timewise Jobs team: “I’m hugely ambitious, but I also need to work flexibly, so I make sure I do my research before I start job hunting. If a potential employer isn’t openly mentioning a commitment to flexible working, I probably won’t be right for them – or them for me – so I tend to steer clear.”
The end goal of recruiting flexibly is that the best available candidates will seek you out and want to work with you. So don’t just sign up for flexible recruitment; prioritise it, and shout about it.
Published June 2021
By Emma Stewart, Co-Founder Timewise
Does flexible working improve productivity? That’s the question I was invited to consider by wellbeing specialists Carnegie Trust UK, for their collection of essays, Can Good Work Solve the Productivity Puzzle?
The short answer is yes, from what we know, but we need to know more. I’ll explain why below; if you’re interested in the longer answer, it’s chapter 15 in the collection.
So what do we know? Well, there is some (limited) data on the link between flex and productivity. A 2014 survey by BT found that the productivity of flexible workers increased by 30%. Similarly, a YouGov survey from 2015 suggested that 30% of office workers felt their productivity increased when they worked remotely. And in a study of flexible workers undertaken by Cranfield University[1], over 90% of managers said the quantity and quality of work improved or stayed the same.
Additionally, there is an argument for flexible working having an indirect impact on productivity, due to its direct effect on other workplaces issues. Flexible working has been shown to boost talent attraction, retention and progression, and drive inclusion and diversity. It also delivers better work life balance, with the knock on effect of supporting mental and physical health and wellbeing.
It’s therefore not a huge leap to assume that if you’re working fewer days a week, or in a job that fits with your life, you are likely to be more engaged. Or that working from home, with fewer interruptions, can increase your output. Or that hanging on to experienced, knowledgeable staff will help the whole team succeed.
Certainly, these assumptions have contributed to increased interest, and trials of, the four-day working week. A key early example of this, Perpetual Guardian in New Zealand, ran a pilot which they say revealed a 20% increase in productivity. And a number of companies in the UK have followed suit.
However, as I’ve explained in detail elsewhere, introducing a four-day working week isn’t just a schedule tweak. In frontline and shift-based sectors, such as teaching, retail or manufacturing, it is hugely complicated to introduce – or only possible to do so at a prohibitively high cost to the business.
So if the four-day working week isn’t the answer, what is? I believe there are two big steps we need to take if we’re to use flexible working to solve the productivity puzzle:
At Timewise, we’re already on this journey. We’ve led a number of research projects exploring innovative flexible options, in complex sectors such as nursing, teaching and retail. Right now, we’re piloting flexible working in the construction industry, and investigating the role that flexibility can play in supporting returners and older workers.
But to really embed this work, we need more social partnerships between business sector bodies and agents for change, backed by government and industry investments. That’s the way to take productivity to the next level, whilst delivering a happier, healthier workforce.
Published January 2020
[1] Cranfield University/Working Families 2008: “Flexible Working and Performance”
By Karen Mattison, Co-Founder, Timewise
As flexible working becomes more widespread, most forward-looking leaders are on board with the big-ticket issues, like the value of flexible hiring or the need to create roles with flexibility built in. But less well-known, perhaps, is the impact that smaller, personal actions can have.
I was reminded of one of these recently, when a 2017 article about leaving loudly popped up on the Timewise Instagram feed. The article focused on Robbert Rietbrook, then CEO of PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand, and his belief that bosses should model the behaviour they want to see. Or, as he puts it, “If you are younger or more junior, you need to be able to see your leaders go home, to be comfortable to leave”. Based on my experience, and the conversations I’ve had, he’s spot on.
When a company’s leaders are focused on time spent at a desk rather than work done or objectives achieved, it leads to an unhealthy workplace culture. One in which people leave jackets on chairs to give the impression they’re working late. In which working parents feel they have to sneak out down the back stairs at 5pm (despite having started early to compensate). It can even cause people to struggle in when they’re unwell, which can affect their long term mental and physical health.
In contrast, if you’re a leader who chooses to leave loudly, you’ll send a clear message about your views on work-life balance:
It may seem like a tiny shift; but the impact is anything but. Leaving loudly helps create a positive working environment in which your staff are trusted and supported to work in the way that suits them best, with a sustainable work-life balance.
From a straight business-case perspective, this will have a positive effect on issues such as retention, productivity and absenteeism. From a human one, it will ensure you’re creating a culture in which your team know that they are valued and are able to thrive.
And it’s not just about hometime; there are other small changes that can help set the right tone. For example, making it clear on your signature that you don’t expect an instant response to out-of-hours emails will reinforce the fact that you value your employees’ free time.
So yes, let’s tackle the big stuff, like being proactive about offering part-time or flexible working arrangements and championing those who do so. Let’s make sure we create properly flexible roles that allow people to balance their work and home lives successfully. But let’s also leave loudly, and show by example that balancing work and life really is OK.
Published December 2019
There’s an increasing amount of data around flexible working, including our revelations that only 1 in 4 job ads offer it despite nearly 9 in 10 employees wanting it. But something we haven’t known is whether employees generally have to request flexible working, or are proactively offered it.
So we worked with CMI, and polled 879 managers, and here’s what we’ve learned. Only 1 in 5 line managers have ever offered flexible working at an annual review or performance review, ever. Even worse, only 1 in 20 have proactively suggested it at least once at the point of promotion.
Does this matter? Well, yes. And not just for employees either.
Historically, there has been a stigma attached to working flexibly, and particularly part-time, as something that is only really valid for women with children. And while attitudes are changing, the ‘request-response’ model is slowing progress down. It creates a sense that flexible working is something that requires specific circumstances, rather than being open to all.
If it were proactively offered to everyone, flexible working would become more widespread and, critically, more gender-neutral. It would be more acceptable to work flexibly for non-childcare reasons, increasing take-up by non-parents, and opening up more flexible career pathways. Over time, this would help employers achieve a healthier, happier, more productive and more inclusive workforce.
If you think this is something you could improve, the solution is relatively straightforward. You need to build a proactive strategy which encourages your line managers to discuss flexible preferences at key career development points. For example, your framework for annual appraisals or performance reviews could include a requirement for managers to ask team members if they are happy with their working pattern, and make it clear that they are willing to discuss flexible alternatives.
But of course, strategy isn’t enough. As Niamh Mulholland, the CMI’s Director of External Affairs says: “We know that there is often a gap between flexible working policy and practice. The key to closing that gap is really good line management – which means ensuring line managers are properly equipped to help staff work flexibly, and empowered to champion flexible working and call out bad practice.”
So you’ll also need to offer training for your line managers to help make sure they’re implementing your strategy in the right way. This would involve teaching them how to discuss flexible working and upskilling them in job design, so that any arrangements that are agreed work for the business as well as the individual.
And yes, this will require an initial investment of time and training budgets. But as we’ve shown, the impact of flexible working on headline issues such as employee well-being and the gender pay gap will ensure that it is worthwhile. If you need any support, we’re here to help.
Published December 2019
By Emma Stewart, Co-Founder
It won’t come as much of a surprise that, when it comes to flexible working, the construction industry is a tough one to crack. However, tackling complex sectors is one of the things we do best. So we’re partnering with four major employers, with the support of Build UK, to research, design and pilot new approaches that will overcome the barriers and bring about sustainable change.
The construction industry is known for a long-hours culture. It also has a dearth of female talent; CIC data suggests that women make up less than 15% of the workforce. What’s more, these women are leaving the industry at a faster rate than men, in part due to the lack of flexible working arrangements.
At the same time, the industry is facing skills shortages and a talent drain. Record employment, a high proportion of over 55s in the workforce and the uncertainties around Brexit (critical in an industry in which around 10% are non-UK nationals) are all colliding, with the result that attracting, retaining and progressing talented workers is an increasing challenge.
It’s also worth noting that the culture of long hours is having a negative impact on both men and women in the industry, affecting their mental health and their ability to balance work with caring and family life.
Overall, then, there is an urgent need to design more flexible roles and career pathways within construction, to deliver better work-life balance and build a more diverse, healthier workforce.
So we have joined forces with Build UK and four employers for a 12-month change project. We’ll be working with BAM Nuttall, BAM Construct, Skanska and Willmott Dixon to gain insights into making flexible working viable within the construction industry, and to design and pilot new approaches.
We’ll start with an initial insight phase, including a deep-dive diagnostic into each of the four partners’ current working practices and perceptions. We’ll use these insights to develop a flexible job design change programme, which we’ll then pilot across a number of construction sites. We’ll end with a thorough evaluation of what worked and what could be improved, and will share our findings with the wider industry.
Throughout the programme, we’ll offer support, coaching and training to HR teams, senior leaders and line managers, so the new approaches are understood and championed at every level. We’ll use these pilots to design industry-wide guidance on operational challenges, large and small, from how to plan and deliver a pilot to the best way to advertise a flexible job.
And when the programme is complete? Well, that won’t be the end of the story, for our partners or for the industry as a whole. Our hope is that it will be the beginning; the beginning of a change within construction towards a better work-life balance for all.
Published October 2019
You might think that we would welcome the proposals on flexible recruitment in the government’s Good Work Plan with open arms. Surely, as champions of flexible working, we would be delighted by the concept of requiring all employers to clarify whether a role they’re advertising is flexible? Well yes, but… there’s a bit more to it than that.
It’s certainly true that Timewise has led the campaign for flexible recruitment that has got us to this point. We’ve been tracking the flexible jobs market for the last five years with our annual Flexible Jobs Index. And we were the first to flag up that the supply of flexibly advertised roles (currently just 15%) lags way behind the massive demand for such roles (which our research has put at 87%).
So of course, we would be delighted if more employers would consider making their roles flexible, and then advertise them as such. But should they be legally required to do so? Our answer is: not yet, and not without proper support in place. Here’s why we hold this view, and what we recommend instead.
We have always been clear that any legislation around flexible recruitment should benefit candidates and widen the flexible jobs market. But legally requiring employers to consider making a role flexible could have unintended consequences that would have a negative impact on both.
Firstly, there’s a danger that legislation without support will simply lead to ‘flexwashing’, by which I mean employers advertising a role as flexible without making any changes to it. And that just won’t work. You can’t just dish out a laptop and leave staff to get on with working remotely, or chop a day off the working week and expect the same outputs.
So managers and HR will need support and training in how to design flexible roles; otherwise, they’ll do it badly. This is true for all roles, but particularly acute when it comes to front line low-margin sectors. In these, it is much more complex to create good flexible jobs that give workers more control and predictability over how they work.
And secondly, there’s a concern that employers who aren’t really on board will advertise a role as having flexibility, because they feel they have to, and then mysteriously fail to shortlist any candidates who they think might want it. That’s bad news all round, but particularly for groups such as parents, carers or people with a medical condition, for whom flexibility can be the difference between working and not.
But look: this isn’t just a moan, and we’re not against the principles that the government is working towards. On the contrary, I’ve been pushing for a programme to support the development of good flexible work in my role on the government’s Flexible Working Taskforce.
Our ultimate goal at Timewise is to help create a buoyant jobs market for the millions of people who want and need to work flexibly. And we know, based on our 15 years’ experience in this area, that will take time and thought to get right. So here are the steps we believe should be taken to make this proposed legislation a success:
I believe all three of these elements have an equally important part to play in stimulating a fairer flexible jobs market. Yes, legislation is important, but changing workplace law won’t change workplace culture by itself.
To achieve real progress, businesses also need to be helped to understand how to equip managers with the skills they need. And they need to make the sustainable, structural changes that we know will support genuine flexible recruitment. That means our government – whichever it may be – incentivising and supporting businesses to do their bit.
It’s important to remember that this isn’t a quick fix; as the Scandinavian countries’ experiences have shown, it takes many years to create a truly flexible market. And it only happened because their governments were prepared to fund programmes to improve business performance and the quality of flexible roles, as well as prioritising and investing in family-friendly working practices.
So please, let’s do it properly. Step by step. Because if we are successful at creating real culture change, we will have a truly flexible jobs market. One in which employers are not just advertising job vacancies as flexible, but actually hiring quality candidates into well-designed flexible roles. If you’d like some help getting started, you know who to ask.
Published October 2019
Nursing has been highlighted as ‘the most urgent challenge’ in the Interim NHS People Plan. Our year-long pilot has focused on improving nurses’ work-life balance by addressing their working patterns. And it’s delivered three key recommendations to tackle the nursing shortage head-on.
It’s well-known that the NHS is struggling to find and keep enough staff, but the numbers relating to nursing shortages are no less shocking for their familiarity. Nurse resignations for poor work-life balance have increased by a staggering 169% between 2011-12 and 2017-18, according to analysis for the Labour party. And the Interim NHS People Plan notes that the organisation will need to recruit 40,000 extra nurses in the next five years just to stand still.
As we know from our work in other sectors, offering flexible working is a sure-fire way to improve work-life balance. But in a shift-based, skills-driven, 24-hour environment like an NHS ward, it’s complex to introduce. As a result, most wards operate on a two-tier system in which a few, fortunate individuals have an agreed flexible working arrangement (FWA), usually for childcare reasons. Everyone else then has to fit around them, with minimal input and even less predictability.
Over the last year, we have been supported by the Burdett Trust for Nursing to explore potential solutions for making work-life balance available for all, and not just those with a FWA.
Our belief was that by increasing the fit between nurses’ working pattern preferences and their actual working patterns, more of them would stay. At the same time, we were mindful that any solution would need to work within the KPIs and mix of skills that ward managers needed to deliver.
So, building on academic research, and following a series of focus groups with participating hospitals, we piloted a team-based approach to rostering , with the aim of increasing the amount of input that nurses have into their working patterns, whilst taking into account the operational constraints of life on the ward.
A sizeable piece of action research, this two-stage project involved 240 nurses in seven wards across three NHS trusts. We ran the first, six-month stage at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital (BWCH), and used our findings to inform the second stage at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) and University Hospital Southampton (UHS).
We began at BWCH by creating and training a lead team for each ward who were responsible for creating the roster (previously undertaken by the ward manager). Each lead team were allocated a subgroup of nurses and tasked with finding out their long-term preferences.
The lead team members then worked together to create the roster based on their colleagues’ input, making sure that unpopular shifts were spread fairly and that each shift had the right number of nurses with particular skills.
Following the completion of the first pilot at BWCH, we fed our learnings into the second six-month stage, across all three hospitals, and finished with a formal evaluation.
Our evaluation indicated that there were three main benefits to team-based rostering. A comparison of pre- and post-pilot data showed:
Other important findings include: the critical role played by the ward manager in making the new approach work; the need to choose the lead team members carefully, to ensure the right balance of skills; and the extra time (and so budget) required to train the teams and deliver the roster.
Overall, then, we are cautiously positive about the potential of team-based rostering; indeed, the teams who worked with us are continuing to create their rosters in this way. However, there’s no question that more work is needed so that other teams and NHS Trusts can benefit from what we have learned. And, given that most of the guidelines on flexible working in the NHS are not adapted for shift-based roles, it’s also clear that bespoke definitions need to be developed.
We are therefore making the following recommendations to bring about widespread change:
It won’t be a quick fix; these kind of changes take time, money and serious collaboration. But by taking action, we stand to gain a happier, healthier workforce who will stay within the NHS for longer. And given that nursing shortages are already at critical levels, there’s no time to waste.
Published September 2019
By Emma Stewart, Co-Founder, Timewise
First, the good news. This year’s Flexible Jobs Index, our annual report tracking the proportion of flexibly advertised jobs, puts the 2019 figure at 15%. In 2015, it was 9.5%, so the trend is continuing in the right direction.
But, but, but… it’s painfully slow, inching up by a couple of percentage points (or less) each year. If it continues at this rate, it will be a long time until the supply of part-time and flexible jobs matches the demand (which our research puts at 87%).
And when we dug deeper into the data, we uncovered some insights that employers who want to get the best from their workforce shouldn’t ignore:
While the highest salary bracket (jobs paying £80K FTE) has the fastest rate of growth, these roles are more likely to be described as ‘flexible’, rather than ‘part-time’. This may make it harder for key groups of employees to progress, particularly women who can’t work a full week. And that, in turn, can have a knock on effect on issues such as the gender pay gap.
There’s still a sharp drop in the availability of flexibly advertised jobs between the under £20K band (23%) and the £20K – £34K band (14%). This creates a structural cap on progression for many low-paid workers who have skills, but need to work flexibly. And it is certainly likely to make it harder for employers to build an inclusive, motivated workforce.
Finally, there are big discrepancies between the availability and growth of flexible opportunities in different sectors. In health and social services, for example, the percentage of flexibly advertised jobs far outstrips those of sectors such as construction and engineering. So it’s critical to have a sector-specific focus for any flexible working strategies you develop.
The chances are that at least one, if not all, of these insights are relevant to your organisation. So ignoring the data isn’t an option, particularly in an era of skills shortages and market uncertainty.
What’s more, offering flexibility up front may soon become a legal obligation. As I’m sure you’re aware, the government is consulting on proposals to support families, one of which is to give employers a duty to consider advertising all jobs as flexible.
So it would be well worth employers getting ahead of any potential reporting requirements, by taking steps to address the issues thrown up by this year’s Flexible Jobs Index sooner rather than later. In our view, they can’t afford not to.
Our consultancy and training team offer a range of services to help employers design, develop and deliver a flexible working strategy within a supportive culture. Please get in touch to find out more.
Published October 2019
By Poornima Kirloskar-Saini, Operations Director
It’s easy to see why hot-desking is a brilliant concept. It allows companies to provide less workstations, and so cut their building and maintenance costs. It encourages managers to be relaxed about their employees working elsewhere, creating an environment built on trust. And, potentially at least, it gives employees the option to work from or closer to home, with all the work-life balance and well-being benefits that brings.
Yet, according to a recent survey, office workers are becoming increasingly unhappy about hot-desking. Out of the 1,000 who were interviewed, half believed that hot-desking made them less productive, compared to a third in a similar survey two years ago. And 60% said that a dedicated desk remained their preferred option.
So is the hot-desking era over? We hope not. Our view, based on our own experience as well as our insights into workplace culture, is that it’s not the principle of hot-desking that’s the problem; it’s how it’s applied. And when it’s done well, it works for everyone.
The problem arises when hot-desking is seen as a way to save money, without giving thought to how it affects employees. Just slashing the number of desks, dishing out laptops and expecting employees to fight it out among themselves, isn’t the answer. It’s the equivalent of squeezing a full-time job into four days and calling it part-time.
Instead, hot-desking needs to be seen within the concept of flexible working as a whole. And as with any operational workplace change, it’s more likely to succeed if it’s thought through, consulted on and carefully implemented. How do I know? Because here at Timewise, we walk the walk. We have a fully flexible workspace, underpinned by the right technology, which works for all our employees, not just our FD.
Here are our five key principles for making hot-desking work for all.
Before we started the move to hot-desking, we took the time to find out what our people actually wanted. How bothered were they about being able to personalise their space? How did they feel about working from home? How flexible could they be about when and where they work? How often did they feel they would need to be in the office? What technology would they need to support remote working?
Here at Timewise, most of us work part-time in some way, which is helpful in terms of hot-desking. But we decided early on that we could only make it work if people were allocated fixed in-office days as a starting point. We could then set about building in the flexibility for people to change their days as and when needed. So that’s what we did.
Initially, one of our team was responsible for holding and sharing a weekly update about who was in or out of the office, and so which desks might be available. Needless to say, it was a total headache.
But when we came to look for an off-the-shelf software solution, we realised there wasn’t anything available that matched our needs. Most of the packages we came across only offered desk booking capability, and we needed a more bespoke solution.
So we designed our own app, which gives all members of our team individual control but also requires collective responsibility. It really works, and has made Julie’s life a lot easier. Do get in touch if you’d like to know more.
One thing that has been central to the smooth working of our new system is the IT we have put in place. Every member of our team has secure remote access to all our systems, so working remotely isn’t a second best option or a cause of frustration. On the contrary, our team love the way it supports their well-being and work-life balance, and allows them to focus on specific tasks.
Before we made the move to hot-desking, we shared some key principles with the team which we felt were needed to make it work. For example, everyone was expected to wash their cups at the end of the day, and to store their belongings and documents in drawers. We also agreed to outlaw eating at our desks.
So far, people have pretty much stuck to these principles, so everyone comes in to a clean, clear desk. An unexpected bonus is that we are now much more likely to be found eating together in the communal kitchen, which has been great for our team dynamic.
However, none of the above will be any good if your roles aren’t deliverable on a remote working basis. So before you even start investigating your options for hot-desking, take the time to look at the roles themselves.
If you need any help designing properly flexible roles, or you’d like to know more about our desk management app, please get in touch. As our experience shows, making hot-desking work is well worth it.
Published July 2019
