The drive to get people back into the office isn’t universally popular, and some employees, especially those with health issues or extra responsibilities, are understandably resistant. Here’s how we’d tackle it.
By Amy Butterworth, Principal Consultant, Timewise
There’s a growing sense out there that it’s time to start bringing people back into the office. With restrictions having eased on 19 July, and the worst of the pandemic (hopefully) behind us, leadership teams all over the UK appear to be planning a full-scale return, albeit, in many cases, on a hybrid basis.
However, the move towards more office-based work isn’t universally popular; one IPA/Opinium survey found that only 31% of adults favoured a full-time return to the office, with fully flexible approaches and a hybrid 3:2 model both preferred. Some are being hugely vocal on the subject; employees at Apple wrote a letter to their CEO in June responding to (and rejecting) the proposal that they would be required to return to the office for three days each week.
As a result, leaders who believe the return to the office has clear benefits are left treading a delicate balance, between supporting their employees’ work preferences and doing what they think is right for the organisation. It’s not a straightforward one to fix, but it does need fixing; forcing people to come back in against their will won’t work for them or the organisation. Instead, here are some suggestions for how you should approach it.
The first thing to do, if you haven’t already, is to find out what your employees are thinking and feeling. What’s the appetite for coming back into the office, and what are the objections? What could you do to help them feel more comfortable? For example, would a simple adjustment to the timings of their working day that cut out rush hour travel make a difference to their preferences?
Once you’ve understood how people are feeling in general, you need to dig deeper into any concerns. And there are likely to be a wide range of reasons why people are unwilling to return.
For some, working from home will have changed their lives for the better, such as replacing commuting with exercise time or being able to share childcare. Others may genuinely feel that they’re more productive outside of the office; some may have even relocated on the assumption that they will be able to work some of their week from home. For others, particularly those with health issues or dependents, there may be real fears about exposure to Covid-19 or their ability to juggle their responsibilities.
Recognising the benefits that remote working has brought your employees, and registering their concerns about returning, will help you design a solution that allows them to hold onto the good stuff, and feel supported to manage their specific needs.
Armed with these insights, you need to ask yourself this question: what are you asking your employees to come back in for?
Given the concerns that people may have, you’ll need to make sure it’s worth it; simply expecting them to come in just to sit at their desks and work like they used to won’t be enough. And nor is it sufficient to trot out the line that people should ‘come in for collaboration’; that’s just too vague.
So instead, take this as an opportunity to re-evaluate not just the office, but the working day. Start from scratch, challenging assumptions and long-held ways of doing things. If you could design the best way to deliver your company’s objectives, what would it look like? If you were to rethink the working day, with wellbeing and productivity as your focus instead of hours clocked, what changes would you make?
And involve your team in this process, to make sure that the changes you agree will stick. For example, as part of our hybrid workshop for line managers, we advise carrying out activity analysis with their teams. This involves looking at the different types of activity needed to deliver their goals, and the best time and place to do them.
This process of exploration will give you a platform to work out what the purpose of your office should be, and to explain to employees why, and when, you would like them to come in.
As part of the evaluation process, you’ll need to make sure you’re not being swayed by your own preferences and biases. Are you keen to bring people back in because that’s how you prefer to manage? Does it just feel easier to go back to how it’s always been done? That’s not a good enough reason to stick to the status quo.
Similarly, if your line managers are nervous about being in charge of a team they can’t see, that isn’t a reason to make everyone come in. Upskilling your managers to support and develop remote colleagues is a far better solution.
Finally, it’s worth remembering that there is no one-size-fits-all for flexible and hybrid working. So whatever your new office set-up and working day looks like, there will still be some people for whom it isn’t appropriate, or who may need additional support.
For example, even if you decide that certain team meetings need to be attended in person, you should still make provision for anyone who can’t attend, such as allocating a buddy in the room who can advocate for their airtime. By making inclusivity a priority, and thinking beyond the technology, it should always be possible to find a solution.
The bottom line is, there is no going back, at least not for people-focused, forward-looking organisations. The shifts caused by the pandemic are too wide, and too deep, to be overturned; employee demand for flexible options is higher than ever, and you risk damaging your retention strategy and your employer brand if you don’t respond. And of course, you would also miss the opportunity to build back better. But these are big strategic issues to explore, and you may need some help; if you’d like to know more about how we could support your process, please do get in touch.
Published July 2021
By Jenny Vadevalloo, Senior Account Manager, Timewise Jobs
As we begin to emerge from Covid-19, and are getting a clearer sense of the way the economy is going, many companies are starting to reboot their hiring strategies. And the focus on hybrid means that more and more employers are building an element of remote working into their roles.
However, there’s another kind of flexible working that can be hugely helpful for employers at this time: part-time. And while the focus on remote working is a positive step, it does mean that part-time is getting less attention. That’s a real shame, because there are some clear benefits to hiring part-timers, especially for SMEs.
Here are some of the reasons why it’s worth building part-time into your recruitment plans.
If you have the budget to recruit a full-time junior employee, it’s worth considering using it to hire a more senior, part-time individual. For the same spend, you’ll get a wealth of experience that a junior employee wouldn’t have; for example, operating at a strategic level, or manging budgets and teams.
Additionally, although they would be working fewer hours, it’s highly likely that a senior part-timer would work more efficiently and independently than someone less experienced, due to the depth and breadth of their knowledge base.
This is certainly the view of Meg Abdy, Development Director of Legacy Foresight, a longstanding client of Timewise Jobs which offers strategic advice to leading charities across the UK, Netherlands and Australia. Their team of highly skilled analysts, researchers and marketing experts have always worked flexibly, at a time and place that suits them.
As Meg notes:
“We’ve found that the best use of our budget is to have someone more experienced and of a higher calibre for, say, two days each week. It means we can trust them to get on and do the job, without having to spend lots of time managing them. They bring a maturity of mindset and skills that you wouldn’t get from a more junior team member.”
Similarly, given the economic impact that the pandemic has had on many companies, hiring a part-timer can be a less risky step to take. And remember it’s not just the basic salary, but also NI and pension contributions, which will be pro-rated.
So if your forecasting is making you wary of taking on financial commitments, but you know you need to add someone into your team, hiring part-time would allow you to bring in the expertise you need, but without a full-time outlay.
Part-time job vacancies are like gold dust; only 8% of jobs are advertised as fewer than five days per week. So by offering a part-time role, you’ll widen your candidate pool to include talented people who want to work, but need a part-time opportunity to do so. This is particularly pertinent at a time when skills shortages are on the rise.
As Meg explains: “Our business requires some very specific skill sets, and needs people with complementary skills who can work closely together. Offering part-time opportunities does give us more choice when it comes to recruiting for these roles, as it opens them up to people who can’t work full time – or prefer not to.”
And there’s an argument that part-time employees offer heightened commitment to their employers, as Meg would agree:
“In our experience, our team appreciates the commitment we are showing them by offering a working pattern that suits their circumstances, which they repay with their loyalty and work ethic. And from our employees’ perspectives, there are no negatives to get in the way of them doing an excellent job.”
The benefits of hiring part-time employees are clear, then; they are also particularly relevant to SMEs. As well as widening your access to candidates, it will allow you to compete for talent against larger businesses and help stretch your budgets. It also offers a soft touch approach to D&I initiatives.
And the good news is, we can help you access them. Timewise Jobs has over 100,000 registered candidates, of which 72% have professional or management experience, and we have a great track record in supporting our clients to find the right people.
As Meg concludes: “We have recruited our last nine employees through Timewise Jobs. They have the right calibre of interesting people on their books, and they really understand what we’re looking for.” We’d be happy to help you in a similar way; feel free to get in touch to find out more.
Published July 2021
By Amy Butterworth, Principal Consultant, Timewise
It’s all over the press and social media, but is the ‘great resignation’ really a thing? Are employers facing a mass employee walkout, as people reassess their lives and decide to quit their jobs? And if so, what should they do to pre-empt it?
There’s certainly a feeling that the pandemic has triggered a work-life balance rethink. The ability to work from home for at least part of the week has led some employees to move away from big cities, in search of more space, or lower overheads, or both. And the much reported growth in ‘pandemic burnout’, mental health issues and work creep all appear to be taking their toll.
The data stacks up, too; according to research by Personio and Opinium, nearly 40% of employees are looking to change roles in the next 6 or 12 months, or once the economy has strengthened. And employers seem aware of the risk, with 45% of HR decision makers saying they are worried that staff will leave once the job market improves.
It’s clear, then, that the impact of the pandemic on how we work, and the related shift in employee priorities, are set to continue. And while it would be tempting to panic, and action some short-term initiatives to try and keep hold of people, investing your energy into building a culture and behaviours that will support employee retention in the long term makes much more sense. Here are some suggestions for how to do so:
If, like many organisations, you’re on the path towards a hybrid approach, it’s really important to involve your people in the process. They should be invited to feed into the scoping sessions, and to express their views on potential plans; imposing working arrangements without consultation is likely to increase the chances that employees will up and leave.
And this isn’t just an issue in relation to your current employees. Approaches to hybrid and flexible working are strong indicators of workplace cultures, and job seekers will want to understand how your organisation responded. Being seen to be collaborative, rather than imposing your preferences on the team, can only enhance your employer brand.
It’s fair to say that some areas and sectors are at greater risk from the ‘great resignation’ than others. For example, organisations with high numbers of older employees (such as the NHS) could be disproportionately hit, as they respond to Covid-19 by retiring early.
So firstly, interrogate your demographic, and identify groups that may be more at risk. Then think creatively about what you could change that might encourage them, and those coming up behind them, to stay. And looking further ahead, take the opportunity to think about how you can shape your roles to ensure that knowledge and experience are shared.
To use the older demographic as an example, that could mean looking at whether part-time could be offered as a way to ease into retirement. Or it could be exploring mentoring of junior employees as a way to share and retain more experienced colleagues’ knowledge and skills.
One upside of the pandemic has been that employers have had increased visibility of their people’s lives outside work, and so greater insight into what support they might need. And the more you understand what’s going on in people’s lives, the easier it will be to identify those at risk of leaving, now and in the future.
So talk to your teams, and build ways to get these insights into your ongoing processes. Set aside time for 1-1s to discuss working patterns; both now, in relation to the return to work, but also going forwards as part of your performance review process. Build conversations about wellbeing into your team meetings, as a standing agenda item. And commit to reviewing and improving your post-Covid working approach, within and across teams.
Smart employers are using this period as an opportunity to put their organisation in pole position for the future of work; not just post-Covid, but in 3, or 5, or 10 years’ time. So think creatively about the different types of skills that you will need, and get ahead of the game in upskilling and reskilling your staff so they are well-placed to succeed. This will not only help you stay competitive within your field, but will also demonstrate that you value your staff and want to invest in them.
With the knowledge you gain from the above process, you can then start to design roles that will deliver, both against your operational needs and those of your employees. Remember the importance of building flexibility into these roles – it’s a high priority for millions of employees now – and don’t let the pandemic-led focus on remote working make you forget about the potential of part-time.
And make sure you’re clear about the flexibility you’re offering when recruiting; currently only around 22% of roles are advertised with flexible options, despite 87% of people wanting to work flexibly; so doing so is a great way to get an edge in the battle for talent.
If you would like support with any of the above, please do get in touch; we offer consultancy and training on all thing flex, including hybrid working strategy and implementation for leaders and managers, and flexible job design.
Life-changing events such as the pandemic will always give people cause to stop and think about how they want to live their lives. But by treating this large-scale re-evaluation as an opportunity instead of a threat, and taking actions that improve your organisation in the long term, you’ll build a stable, skilled workforce who will be more likely to stay, whatever else is going on in the world.
Published July 2021
By Muriel Tersago, Principal Consultant, Timewise
Here at Timewise, we have a long-held interest in supporting schools to become more flexible. In 2019, we produced a report on building flexible working into schools, in association with Now Teach. More recently, we have produced a set of flexible working resources for school leaders and staff. And we are mid-way through a project with three multi-academy trusts to determine what a proactive and whole-school approach to flexible working looks like for leaders and classroom teachers.
So we are delighted to have been appointed by the Department for Education to use our experience and expertise to support their approach to teacher recruitment, retention and wellbeing. We are offering free, national training on flexible working for school leaders, through a series of live and recorded events.
Our webinar series, “Implementing Effective Flexible Working Practices for School Leaders” took place throughout October 2021. Please view the webinar that is relevant for you:
Of course, there’s no question that making teaching roles more flexible is more complex than in some other sectors. Complications around timetabling, budget constraints and the student-facing nature of the role all play their part.
But there is evidence that some teachers leave the profession because they can’t access flexible working, and that many secondary school teachers who do leave reduce their hours when they do so. Whereas, when teachers are able to work flexibly, the benefits are clear. In research carried out for DfE in 2019, 89% of teachers working flexibly stated that they were able to maintain a good work-life balance and manage their workload more effectively. Additionally, 85% felt their wellbeing had improved by working flexibly.
And with the pandemic having shifted the dial on flexible working, it’s important that schools do what they can to incorporate it into their roles. They are, after all, competing with other sectors, not just other schools, for the best talent.
Our hope is that, by supporting and encouraging more schools to implement more flexible working, we will boost the profession’s ability to attract and keep the teachers on whom its success rests. We’ll keep you posted.
Published July 2021
By Emma Stewart, Co-Founder, Timewise
There are many reasons why increasing the opportunities for flexible working within construction is a good plan. For starters, there are very few women in the industry; just 14% of employees (and only 1% of those working in operational roles) are female. Work-life balance is negligible, and burnout is common, with a negative knock-on effect on mental health and family life.
The industry as a whole has invested a huge amount of work, effort and passion on various initiatives, with the aim of tackling skills shortages, attracting a more diverse talent pool and addressing wellbeing. But until relatively recently, far less attention has been given to flexible working, in particular for site-based roles. And that’s largely due to some sizeable operational and cultural barriers.
Construction has been known to have a long-hours culture; there’s a pervading view that ‘that’s what you sign up for’, and that anyone working less than full-time is less committed (and unlikely to climb the ladder). Additionally, the fact that frontline workers tend to be paid by the hour makes some wary of any changes to ways of working that might impact their pay.
And the commercial need to deliver ‘on time and on budget’ means that operational needs can restrict more innovative approaches to improving working practices and well-being from being trialled, however good leaders’ intentions may be.
So when we were approached by Build UK to develop a flexible working pilot for the industry, we knew we’d have our work cut out. But having worked with organisations in other, similarly hard-to-flex sectors (including retail and the NHS), we also knew it would be possible. And as the report shows, our efforts, and those of our four pioneer partners and Build UK themselves, have well and truly paid off.
We began by setting two clear goals for the project. Firstly, to improve access to flexible working for frontline construction workers, and so enhance their work-life balance, health and well-being, by giving them more input and control over how they work. And secondly, to enable construction employers to improve working practices and job quality, in order to tackle talent shortages and attract a more diverse talent pool, including more women.
We then started working with our four pioneer partners – BAM Construct, BAM Nuttall, Skanska UK, and Willmott Dixon – to explore their specific challenges and identify which flexible working patterns would help solve them. And what we found was fascinating. In addition to the top-level barriers mentioned above, there were other constraints, such as the interdependency of roles, the varying attitudes of managers, site operating times, employee travel times and long-held beliefs such as the immoveable status of the whole site morning briefing.
Armed with this information, we then worked with each pioneer to develop a team-based approach to working patterns, with four clear goals:
• Changing cultural attitudes and behaviours
• Improving workers’ input into their working patterns
• Improving manager capability to implement flexible working
• Increasing homeworking for site workers
The pilots included a range of adjustments to working practices, including output-based scheduling, late starts and early finishes, and allowing staff to cover for each other and to take back unpaid overtime. Critically, we supported each partner to create their own model, to ensure that it worked within their individual operational constraints. We also provided managers and supervisors with training on how to design flexible roles, and manage the changes within their teams.
Having surveyed our participating workers, managers and leaders before and after the pilots, we were able to note some specific attitude changes. For example, the number of people who agreed with the statement “My working hours give me enough time to look after my own health and well-being” jumped from 48% to 84%.
We also received hugely positive qualitative feedback, including from one employee who told us: “The real positive has been to be able to have more time at home and more involvement with the children and it would be fantastic to be able to keep some of this.” Similarly, a supervisor noted: “There has definitely been a positive impact on productivity. Morale is much better, and the guys are working harder.”
And from a purely commercial perspective, the pilot showed that flexible working doesn’t have to be a barrier to delivery. All of the pilot projects remained broadly on time and within budget; as one supervisor noted: “People are more energised and working faster. If you are being paid for a 10 hour shift you will make it last 10 hours but if there is an incentive to still get paid a full shift but finish quicker, you are focused to get the work done.”
It’s clear, then, that construction is not un-flexable. If leaders take a proactive approach, and create a clear vision and pro-flex culture; if managers are equipped in how to design and manage flexible roles and teams; if employees are encouraged to take a different perspective, and if new approaches are trialled carefully before being rolled out across an organisation, flexible working can be hugely positive for all concerned.
We’re talking to the Construction Leadership Council to see how our findings can be implemented more widely; and alongside our report we’ve produced a 10-point action plan, to support other construction firms to adopt them. In the meantime, if you would like to know more about making this kind of approach work for your organisation, and get some practical help from us, please get in touch.
Published June 2021
By Amy Butterworth, Principal Consultant, Timewise
It’s fair to say that hybrid working is a bit of a Marmite issue. For every organisation which seems set to embrace it (including Google and Nationwide) there are others who don’t see it as viable, such as Goldman Sachs, whose CEO described working from home as ‘an aberration that we’re going to correct as quickly as possible’.
Of course it’s not unusual to find divisions between different organisations on how to approach change. But what happens if the spectrum of opinion within your leadership team includes those who love it and those who hate it? How can a compromise be achieved?
The fact is, with the majority of employees saying they would prefer a more flexible working model, and the younger age group overwhelmingly saying it’s their preference, going back to the’ old normal’ is no longer viable. (Just take a look at what happened when Apple suggested that staff needed to start heading back into the office.) So any organisation which wants to remain competitive, and avoid getting left behind in the battle for talent, will need to try and develop a workable solution.
We fully understand how difficult this can be, as it’s something we often come across when we’re supporting companies to develop a hybrid model. So here’s our advice on how to develop a fair, inclusive approach, which bridges the gap between your hybrid fans and foes
This kind of topic can create a heated response, so it’s worth framing the discussion carefully and creating space for everyone to contribute. Make it clear from the start that there are no right or wrong answers, and all opinions are welcome. It can be helpful to share a range of approaches from different organisations to highlight that it’s a subjective issue, and that what works for one organisation may not work for another.
By allowing everyone to be heard, you’ll make it more likely that they will embrace whatever new ways of working are agreed
So often, negative attitudes are based on individual preferences. For example, someone who doesn’t like working from home is likely to want the rest of their team in the office with them, and to focus on the negative aspects of remote working. Whereas someone who has a long commute might be very keen on a model that allows them to spend more of the week at home.
Another frequent barrier is a simple fear of change; people who are used to being able to physically see their colleagues, and lead them face to face, may struggle with having to develop a more remote leadership style. There may also be a concern that a move towards a hybrid model may take the culture too far from where it is now, and morph the company into something different.
Understanding the root of people’s objections can help you find a way forward that will bring everyone with you
It’s worth remembering that hybrid working is not a goal in itself, it’s a way of achieving your goals. So work out what priorities it will help you tackle, what good hybrid working will look like, and how you will know whether you have succeeded. This could include meeting employee demand for flexibility, boosting your ability to attract new talent, reducing your office space, or cutting down on employee commutes.
By identifying common organisational goals for hybrid working, you’ll find it easier to bring people with different starting points together
Finally, once you have identified the change you want to see within your organisation, it’s sound practice to create a framework for how it will unfold. This will help you provide solid guidelines and parameters for your employees to work within, which in turn will support employee engagement and productivity, as well as an inclusive culture based on trust.
These are the key steps to take:
Hybrid working, in some form or another, is very likely here to stay, and failing to move with the times could be damaging for your company. But there’s a difference between implementing short-term changes at speed and building a sustainable approach that brings everyone with you; and the latter is much more likely to win over those who are instinctively against it, and set you up for success in the future of work.
If you need any help with facilitating discussion among your leadership team, creating a framework for change or training leaders and managers, we can help; feel free to get in touch.
Published June 2021
By Emma Stewart, Co-founder, Timewise
In 2020, while the UK was grappling with the pandemic, the Scottish government recognised that the impact on workplaces was likely to be long term, and that companies would need help to recalibrate their working practices in response. So they commissioned Timewise to create a Scotland-wide programme to create deep, lasting change at a systemic level.
These issues were already on the radar in Scotland; the government were conscious that many people who needed to work flexibly (such as parents, carers and those with disabilities) were struggling to access good quality work, and had already commissioned us to undertake a feasibility study to identify potential solutions. But it quickly became clear that the pandemic was only likely to amplify these issues, and that something large scale needed to be done.
To achieve this, we set out to encourage employers to advertise more jobs as flexible from day one, and to provide more tailored support for employees to help them find and secure the flexibility they need. Initially envisaged as an eight-month programme, it has now been extended to two years, to allow for a wider scope.
So, as we approach the half-way point, it’s a good time to take stock of what have we achieved and what our next steps will be.
The first strand of our programme set out to help employers adapt their working practices through and beyond the pandemic, and to ensure that they did so in a sustainable, inclusive way. We were also keen to encourage them to widen their recruitment processes to include flexible hiring.
So, supported by Flexibility Works, we ran a series of webinars for employers, offering clear, practical guidance on offering fair flexible work, and created two toolkits, one for employers, and one for employees.
In total, almost 500 organisations accessed our webinars, and more than 1,600 received our toolkits. And there’s every suggestion that they are acting on what they have learned. 85% of attendees noted that their session gave them practical ideas and action that they can take forward, and a number of organisations have contacted us for follow-up advice.
From the outset, we knew that the best way to have a wide impact would be to share knowledge, insights and best practice with influencers on the ground, and encourage them to pass it on. So the second strand of the programme was to create a network of change agents, and give them the training, tools and resources they need to support the people they work with.
The network includes employer-facing intermediaries (such as Scottish Enterprise, CBI Scotland and CIPD Scotland), and employee-facing intermediaries (including Capital City Partnership, who co-ran this work with us). Our network have advised 1,200 employers and over 1,000 employees; they have also shared our guidance with more than 5,300 employers and 5,800 employees. And we are starting to see evidence of real change in the way they are approaching conversations as a result.
For example, Scottish Enterprise, who provide business advice and grants for start-ups, are now advising all the organisations they work with to advertise jobs flexibly, and are working with us to build an expectation around this into their formal guidance. Similarly, Edinburgh City Council are now encouraging employers in their Recruitment Incentive Scheme to adapt working pattens to suit candidates with barriers; they are also exploring the idea of incorporating the question ‘Are you a flexible employer?’ into the application process to stimulate action.
Finally, we know from experience that having hard evidence for the size of a problem is a critical part of making change happen. So the third strand of our programme was a new Scotland-focused Flexible Jobs Index, tracking the proportion of jobs advertised with flexible options at the point of hire, before, during and after the first lockdown.
Our findings were pretty stark: only 1 in 4 jobs advertised in Scotland offer any kind of flexible working. And there has been surprisingly little change during the pandemic; the widespread move towards working from home is not being reflected in the recruitment process.
This lack of flexibly advertised jobs is a clear barrier to fair flex for all; with 3 in 4 jobs off-limits for those who need to work flexibly, opportunities for work or progression are scarce.
Looking ahead to the second half of the programme, it’s clear that we have a great deal to build on – and that there are still many hurdles to overcome. Change takes time, but we are keen to keep up the pace and deliver fairer, more inclusive ways of working across Scotland and beyond.
So we’ll continue our work with our network of change agents, and will be seeking to expand it; the more organisations we have on board, the bigger and faster the impact. In particular, we’re planning to work with REC to being recruiters into the network, and we’re talking to Scottish local authorities about joining us too.
We’ll also continue to provide training and guidance for employers on a range of relevant issues, responding to the changes in the workplace. For example, we are planning to run sessions on hybrid working, and on implementing fair flexible work in frontline roles. And of course, we’ll be tracking what works, and sharing what we learn, so that as many organisations as possible get on board with the need for Fair Flexible Work and start to take action.
It’s our hope that the work in Scotland will also inspire and inform change elsewhere. We’re planning to pilot a London-based version of our change agent network, based on our experiences in Scotland, and hopefully, that’s just the start. Our long-term aim is a UK government-led focus on Fair Flexible Work; we’ll keep you posted.
Published May 2021
In Part 1 of our corporate insights into hybrid working, we shared the highlights of our recent roundtable for Timewise Partners, at which we explored how two organisations are approaching the principles and design of sustainable hybrid practices.
But of course, the work doesn’t stop once these have been agreed; it’s equally critical to understand how to implement the changes, and to do so in a way that is both fair and inclusive. This second part explains how our two organisations are approaching these issues, and shares their answers to some specific questions from attendees about making hybrid a reality.
Our speakers agreed that it was important that all members of a team are clear about what their responsibilities are, and how they will collaborate to make it a success. They also noted that line managers need specific training on how to manage, connect and develop a team which is not together all the time. Their advice for leaders and managers includes:
Our speakers also highlighted the challenges that hybrid working can create regarding inclusivity and fairness. There was a consensus that these should not prevent companies adopting a hybrid model, but that they do need to be addressed if the model is to succeed. Insights shared with attendees include:
Our speakers also shared a few of the other issues that they have started to consider as part of their hybrid working implementation. Their snapshots include:
Instead of looking at it from a purely cost perspective, consider re-framing the question around the types of work people will do in different spaces, then set up the office space to facilitate more collaborative work, networking and making connections. Priming employees to think in these ways about where they do particular pieces of work will help get the best from both.
And the last word goes to one of our speakers, with a final, spot-on principle: “If you rush and stumble into this, it will go badly wrong very quickly.” If you need help getting it right, take a look at our hybrid working workshops, or get in touch to find out more about our bespoke consultancy services.
Published May 2021
The impact of the pandemic on the barriers to flexible and remote working has been a largely positive one, with leaders and managers seeing for themselves that employees can work effectively and productively when not tied to the office. However, there’s another barrier that has also come crashing down, and this time it’s a problem: the barrier between work and home.
Throughout 2020 and into this year, there have been a range of reports suggesting that employees are suffering from work creep – in which their working hours spill over into the evenings and weekends. Indeed, in an April 2021 poll by Opinium, 32% of remote workers said they find it hard to switch off from work, and 30% reported working more unpaid hours than before the pandemic.
The Irish government has responded by writing the right to disconnect into an official code of practice, and the union Prospect is calling for it to be written into UK law, describing the blurred boundary between home and work as ”the dark side of remote working”. So, are they right? Do we need legislation to protect employees from work creep – or are there other, better ways of tackling it?
Here at Timewise, we believe it’s critical to get this right; if the hybrid model is to be a long-term success, we do need to encourage and empower people to manage their working-from-home time.
However, we’re also of the view that broad brush, right to disconnect legislation isn’t the right way to go. After all, the point about flexible working is that people can flex their hours to suit their needs. Choice is important; if some people prefer to work in the evenings, perhaps as a trade-off for a later start or an afternoon walk, they shouldn’t be prevented from doing so.
Instead, we believe the onus should be on leaders and managers to make sure they are aware of people working consistently outside their normal hours, and then seek to understand whether it is out of choice or necessity.
During lockdown, the fact that children were not at school played a big part, as parents restructured their working hours to support home schooling. But in more normal circumstances, there are three broad reasons why employees might be working long hours:
1. Workload issues
Given that 1 in 3 employees say they have too much work, it may be that the individual is struggling to deal with an excessive workload or unrealistic time pressure. They may need extra support to make their workload more manageable, or help them prioritise.
This may involve taking a whole team perspective, to see whether the work could be shared out more fairly. But certainly, helping someone feel supported through a particularly pressured time will have a positive effect on their motivation, commitment and mental wellbeing
2. Performance issues
If the workload is not excessive, but there is still evidence of regular long hours, it may be that there is an underlying performance issue. Perhaps the employee doesn’t have the skills and support they need to deliver. Or they may be struggling with a personal or health issue which is affecting their ability to complete the required tasks.
It’s important to address these issues rather than let the situation fester, and risk ending up in a downward spiral with long hours continuing to negatively affect performance.
3. Culture issues
This is a tougher nut to crack – but it is one that needs cracking, not just to deal with work creep, but also to support successful hybrid working, employee engagement and wellbeing. Attitudes to work-life balance have really shifted as a result of the pandemic, and forward-looking leaders are making sure they have a culture to match.
The fact is, workplaces, or teams, which have an ‘always on’ culture, in which employees are expected to respond to emails and calls at any time of the day, and to deliver to unmanageable timescales, are not healthy places to be. They won’t get the best out of their people, and nor will they be viewed by brilliant candidates as a viable next step.
Leaders whose organisations veer towards this kind of culture need to act swiftly to turn things around. They need to clarify what’s expected of their staff, and set protocols around how and when people contact each other (Zoom-free Friday afternoons and avoiding sending out-of-hours emails are ways to tackle this that are being widely discussed).
They also need to make sure that line managers are placing realistic expectations on their direct reports, and have the skills to look after any who might be struggling in the ways set out above. And, perhaps most important of all, they need to lead by example, switching off themselves and being seen to do so, instead of firing out emails at all hours and making others feel pressured to do the same.
So if you spot what looks like work creep in your organisation, the steps are clear: call it out, work out why it’s happening and take steps to address it. Don’t just accept it; the chances are it’s a symptom of a bigger problem that won’t go away on its own.
And if you feel you need additional support with embracing flexible working to support a good work-life balance, we’re here to help; do get in touch.
Published May 2021
By Melissa Jamieson, CEO, Timewise
Back when flexible working was less widespread, one of the most common objections was that it wasn’t compatible with client facing roles. There was a sense that anyone who had direct dealings with a client had to be ready and available at all times to respond to their every wish. Part-time, in particular, was seen as a no-no; how on earth could you tell a client that they had to wait a day?
And while I’d like to think that things, and minds, have changed (not least as a result of the shift in attitudes towards flex as a result of the pandemic), there is a lingering sense that making client-facing roles work on a part-time basis is more trouble than it’s worth.
It’s only fair to recognise that part-time can appear more challenging to implement than other forms of flexible working across all sectors. And having spent a number of years in advertising, I’m only too aware of the balancing act service companies have to play between clients’ and employees’ needs. But as we come out of the pandemic into an economic recovery, and we start developing and refining hybrid ways of working, it’s vital that part-time doesn’t get forgotten.
As I’ve explained elsewhere, offering part-time roles can support a range of business imperatives, from diversity and the gender pay gap to talent attraction and retention. It can boost your employer brand and show you are in tune with the growing number of people who are re-evaluating their priorities and seeking to work less. There’s a societal angle too, as it widens access for key groups who are unable to work full-time.
And, specifically for client-facing companies, where your product is a service, your people are your business. So looking after them, and giving them what they need to succeed, is nothing short of critical, not to mention a pivotal part of your ESG strategy.
I’d like to help reset the narrative on part-time for client-facing companies. So let’s explore some of the specific challenges – and some insights into how to overcome them.
The barriers to part-time which are particularly relevant to client-facing companies include:
But the good news is, none of these issues are insurmountable. Leaders of client-facing companies who want to open up access to part-time can do so. Here’s how.
Clearly, making a client-facing company part-time friendly won’t happen overnight; but for all the reasons noted above, it’s well worth the investment of your time. If you need any support, we’d be happy to provide it, whether through workshops and training or a more bespoke solution. To find out more or discuss your needs, please contact info@timewise.co.uk.
Published May 2021
