Invited to run the largest ever flexible working change project within the NHS, we implemented a model that is upskilling teams, shifting attitudes and driving change on the ground.
By Amy Butterworth, Consultancy Director, Timewise
“We cannot afford to lose any more of our people.” As these words taken from the NHS People Plan make clear, the workforce crisis in our health service is now at an acute level. Recruitment and retention are more challenging than ever; data from earlier this year suggested that one in 10 nursing positions, and one in 17 doctors’ jobs, were unfilled. And in the last quarter of 2021, at least 400 NHS staff in England left their posts every single week due to inadequate work-life balance.
Faced with a mountain to climb, and believing that flexible working is a key part of the solution, NHS England and Improvement sought our help. They commissioned us to create a model for introducing and embedding flexible working practices, and to implement it at scale. The result was NHS Flex For The Future, the largest ever flexible working change project within the NHS, involving teams from 93 NHS trusts and organisations.
So what did we do? Well, as we know from our previous work within the NHS and elsewhere, there really is no one-size-fits all solution for an organisation of this size. We therefore began by tasking each trust to create their own change team, a group of at least five members of staff who knew what their specific challenges, barriers and issues around implementing flexible working would be.
We encouraged them to make sure that the change teams were representative of their trusts, and included frontline staff (such as nurses or midwives) as well as HR and OD professionals. This was critical, not only because they had first-person insights into how things work in practice, but also to ensure that any solutions were seen to be delivered from the ground up, not imposed from the top. We also asked each team to nominate an executive-level Senior Responsible Officer, who could fast-track any issues and decisions to the board, and hold senior colleagues accountable for supporting the programme and its outcomes.
Once the change teams were established, we worked to educate and upskill them through a six-month programme of workshops and advice. This included access to specialist speakers, real-time examples of innovative practice and case studies, as well as practical tools and templates to support the process. We also set up smaller, regionally based group clinics, where they could share ideas, challenges and progress with their local peers, supported by flexible working experts from Timewise and NHS England and Improvement.
Because of its scale, the programme also provided a valuable opportunity to gather information and insights that participants and the wider NHS could learn from. For example, we discovered a real disparity in data gathering around different flexible working patterns, which has a serious knock-on effect on reporting and planning within some trusts. Similarly, we discovered that while some trusts were advertising 100% of their jobs as flexible, others weren’t advertising any in this way. Towards the end of the programme, the change teams began to put what they had learned into practice by developing a business case with which to engage their leadership teams, and a tailored action plan that proposed the right solutions for their particular trust.
Of course, driving change within such large organisations is a marathon, not a sprint, and NHS Flex for the Future was very much the start of the process. Nevertheless, we are already seeing real shifts in attitude and approach from our 93 participant trusts and organisations.
70% of participants told us they have developed an action plan which was supported by their leadership teams. And as one participant put it: “The programme has helped me influence the board and not just start the conversation, but get an organisational objective on our 22/23 business plan.” There were also clear examples within our post-programme survey of how participants’ confidence and understanding has increased. When asked to respond to the statement, “I am clear as to the ways to increase the number of quality flexible roles in my NHS organisation” agreement increased to 69% (compared to 20% at the beginning of the programme). And for the statement “I understand how to design jobs with greater flexibility”, agreement increased from 30% to 74%.
We’ve also collated more detailed feedback about the impact of the programme through a set of case studies, which have really highlighted the positive impact of our work. To pick just one example, here are some insights from Fran Wilson, Lead Nurse for Attraction, Recruitment & Retention at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
I was already convinced that flexible working is an area that will increase staff attraction and retention, but now I have participated in the programme I have the insight, knowledge and resources to share with other people, which really helps.
We would never have got to present at trust board level without the programme, so it’s really helped raise the profile of flexible working… It’s also inspired us to start conversations from a point of yes, and how, rather than no!
It’s a big cultural change, so it isn’t going to happen overnight… but the progress we’re making is exciting… It’s been a great investment.
You can read Fran’s full case study here.
So, having educated and upskilled change teams from 93 NHS trusts and organisations, what’s next? The teams are continuing to develop and embed their action plans, and we are supporting some of them along this next stage of the journey. We’re also keen to help keep up the connections that were formed between teams from different NHS organisations, and will be looking to create more opportunities to convene organisations who are doing exciting things in this area – watch this space. In the meantime, having created and implemented this new model for change at scale, we’re eager to put it to good use, within the healthcare sector and elsewhere. If you are interested in starting a conversation with us about whether our change team model could work in your sector, please get in touch.
Published October 2022
It seems pretty clear that hybrid is the new normal. A June 2022 survey from the CIPD noted that 78% of organisations now offer hybrid working, in a mix of formal and informal arrangements. And spring 2022 ONS data showed that 84% of employees who worked from home during the pandemic plan to continue working in a hybrid way.
Here at Timewise, we see the increase in hybrid working as a hugely positive thing. We, like many organisations, believe that it offers huge benefits for employers and employees alike (as long as it is properly implemented, of course).
But an unexpected side-effect of hybrid’s increasing popularity is that it’s becoming conflated with flexible working in general. In the media, in conversations, in focus groups, people are using the phrase flexible working when what they mean is hybrid working.
To give just one example of many, in a recent discussion we held with a group of frontline workers, a participant stated that “Flexible working won’t work for us – we can’t do our job from home”.
So, what’s the problem here? Well, firstly, it’s just not accurate to conflate the two. Hybrid working is essentially place-based flex – giving people the opportunity to work across different locations. This is a subset of flexible working, which also includes time-based flex – such as part-time, job sharing, compressed hours and flexible start and finish times, as well as more unusual arrangements such as term-time only contracts.
And while place-based flex is liberating and beneficial for many, it doesn’t work for everyone. There are many people for whom being able to work fewer days is the only way they can work at all. Parents, carers, people with physical or mental health issues… for some, working a full week, even if partially from home, just isn’t feasible.
Additionally, there are many roles for which working from home isn’t an option at all. Most frontline workers, such as nurses, teachers, retail assistants and on-site construction workers, generally have to be at their workplace to work. But they may still need flexibility, and if they don’t get it, they may leave; in secondary schools, for example, 1 in 5 teachers who leave the profession do so to take up a part-time role elsewhere.
For these groups, offering time-based flexibility is key. School timetables can be tweaked to accommodate part-time employees or staggered start and finish times; rotas and shift patterns can be designed to accommodate reduced hours. It requires leadership, job design skills and a team-based approach, but it can be done successfully.
However, the confusion between flex and hybrid means that companies which are allowing a blend of in office and WFH can assume they’ve ‘got flex done’. They therefore may not invest enough time in exploring and facilitating time-based flexible working options.
That’s a bad business decision, particularly in a skills crisis, because offering time-based flex as well as place-based flex allows companies to widen their recruitment talent pool and keep hold of employees for longer. It helps them boost employee wellbeing, and develop a more diverse workforce, which reflects wider society and avoids issues around groupthink. It also, all the evidence suggests, helps close the gender pay gap.
And in organisations with both frontline and office-based staff, it also counters the development of a two-tier workforce, in which only those in office-based roles have access to flexible working.
The other thing to note is that time-based flex and place-based flex aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s possible to have a part-time role that is executed in a hybrid way; for example, working four days per week, of which one is from home. For many people, that’s the best of both worlds; for companies who offer it, it’s a powerful lever.
So, our advice is simple. Get clear on the difference between hybrid working and flexible working, and avoid conflating the two. Explore all the different time-based and place-based options, and offer those which are suitable for your organisation. And if you spot someone talking about flex when they really just mean hybrid, it probably wouldn’t hurt to call it out.
Published July 2022
Despite what some business leaders and government ministers want to believe, it seems pretty clear that hybrid working is here to stay. According to ONS data, 38% of working adults reported having worked at home at some point over the past seven days in Spring 2022, and 84% of those who had to work from home during the pandemic were planning to continue to work on a hybrid basis.
And it’s becoming a deal breaker for employees, with 47% of UK office workers – and 60% of those aged 25-34 – saying they would be prepared to quit their current job and look for new opportunities if flex isn’t provided by their employer.
But there’s a science to doing hybrid working well. It’s not just a case of dishing out a laptop and telling people they can work from home a few days a week. And there’s a danger that ways of working developed in haste during the pandemic are still in place, and being left to drift, rather than being actively redesigned to suit the post-Covid landscape.
From our work with clients across all sectors, it’s clear that there’s a willingness to get behind hybrid working, and a determination to do it well. But what’s less clear is how to do so.
We recently explored this in depth with our research, Beyond the hype of hybrid, which dug into the challenges that companies have experienced, and the ways they are working to tackle them. As part of this project, we’ve identified three core actions that employers who want to get hybrid right – and make it stick – should take.
1. Upskill Leaders & Managers
Managing hybrid teams, and negotiating and implementing hybrid patterns, is not instinctive. So make sure your managers, and your leadership team, understand why it’s important and how to do it successfully. This includes:
You’ll also need to build in a feedback loop to understand how managing a hybrid team is affecting your managers’ own workload and productivity. It needs to work for them, too.
2. Enable connection and cultural cohesion
Hybrid working is only possible because of advances in tech; but tech alone won’t make it stick. Companies who want to succeed at hybrid working need to take deliberate action to keep their employees connected, and provide opportunities for collaboration.
This includes:
As one of our panelists at a recent event noted, “People crave the crackle you get in the air in a meeting.” Finding ways to bring that crackle to life in your workplace will really help make hybrid working stick.
3. Ensure fairness and inclusion
Hybrid working, done well, can actually boost inclusion. For some key groups, being able to work from home at least some of the time can be a gamechanger. And it can also support the recruitment of a more diverse, less geographically restricted workforce.
But there are a number of issues, legal and otherwise, that need to be considered to ensure that your arrangements are fair and inclusive. For example:
The legal and HR ramifications of hybrid working are many and varied, and you’ll certainly need to invest some time exploring the impact on issues such as benefits and rewards. You’ll also need to decide whether to make your hybrid arrangements informal or contractual.
Hybrid working is still relatively new, and many organisations have been trialing different approaches as they go along. So it’s a good time to start gathering the data to track how it is working in reality.
This doesn’t mean monitoring attendance for the sake of it, or leaving passive-aggressive notes on empty desks. It’s about collecting information about who is using your office space, and how they’re using it, to ensure that your approach is productive and inclusive.
You should combine your data collection with inclusive listening activities, via groups or surveys, to capture experiences as well as numbers. You could also consider getting input from new starters, who will have a preconception-free view of how well your hybrid-working arrangements are working in practice.
It’s our expectation that the next couple of years will see companies refining and embedding their hybrid working arrangements, and using them as a foundation on which to build more inclusive, more productive, and happier workplaces. Working practices will continue to evolve, but by taking the actions set out here, you’ll be well placed to get hybrid right, and make it stick.
Published July 2022
With Covid restrictions now lifted across the UK, most organisations are opting for a hybrid blend of in-office and home-based working for non-frontline employees. But because of the in-out nature of the last two years, there has been limited scope to measure what works best.
At Timewise, we are curious about what has really changed, and how much will stick. We are also acutely aware of the inclusion and equity risks of poorly implemented hybrid arrangements, especially for key groups and frontline employees. And we believe that, in order to move successfully to a long-term hybrid model, organisations first need to understand how it is working on the ground.
It’s for these reasons that we have created our report, Beyond the hype of hybrid. Developed with the support of 14 organisations at varying stages of hybrid implementation, it explores the risks, challenges, benefits and successes of today’s on-the-ground hybrid practices, and sets out three critical priorities for businesses to focus on going forwards.
The report also includes advice from experts within the tech, legal and facilities sectors, and shares recommendations from Timewise about what businesses should do next to make the reality of hybrid live up to the hype.
The suggestion that under a hybrid model, it will be women who predominantly opt to work from home, to the detriment of their careers, is understandable from a statistical point of view. Data from 2018 suggested that two thirds of mothers are the primary carer for their children. And during the pandemic, women carried out two thirds more of the childcare than men.
But it’s not that simple; and employers who assume it is are doing themselves and their other employees a disservice. The fact is, there are groups other than parents for whom working from home may also be a preference. And for some, lockdown-enforced remote working actually levelled the playing field in terms of access, availability and visibility.
For these groups, being supported to work from home without being affected by proximity bias is essential; badly thought-out hybrid arrangements could send their inclusion backwards. Here’s a look at some of these groups, and why it is in employers’ interests to make sure they’re properly included.
It’s been noted that autism is associated with characteristics such as loyalty, honesty and productivity, as well as logical thinking patterns and creative thinking skills, all of which are hugely valuable to employers. But for people with this condition, and others such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD, the office environment is not necessarily conducive to working.
For example, office lighting and acoustics can be tricky to navigate for people who struggle with sensory overload. And the social aspects of the workplace, and the battle to commute, can be exhausting for those who don’t find interaction easy.
So working from home, at least some of the time, could help these employees stay focused, and produce their best work. This is particularly the case if they are supported to work remotely in a way that suits their preferred communication method – for example, audio-only may work best for some team members.
From access issues for employees who use wheelchairs, to cancer patients’ need to attend appointments during the working day, working from home can minimise some of the complications that employees with physical health issues have to juggle. It also frees up time and energy (which they may need to use sparingly) for them to focus on doing a good job.
And with recent reports suggesting that fewer than one in three patients who were hospitalised during the pandemic feel fully recovered a year later, there is every indication that long Covid may become a real issue for employees. The ability to work from home will be key to helping them stay in the workforce.
It’s also worth remembering that some illnesses aren’t physical, or visible; the needs of employees with mental health challenges must also be taken into account. For employees with depression or anxiety, there’s no one-size-fits-all; but being able to work in a calm quiet space at home may be gamechanging for some, reducing stress levels and supporting the production of high-quality work.
And given the impact the pandemic is having on mental health – with ONS data from May 2021 revealing that depression rates had doubled since it began – a growing number of employees are likely to be affected in this way, and require support from their employers to thrive.
According to Carers UK, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the number of employees with caring responsibilities rise dramatically, with the proportion of carers in any workforce now one in four.
For these employees, working from home can mean being able to visit or support their relative in their lunch hour, or at times when they would otherwise have been commuting. This has a positive effect on their own wellbeing and stress levels, which in turn, affects their ability to deliver for their employers.
Clearly, then, being able to work from home at least some of the time is a bonus for many members of these groups. And the impact that this has on their ability to deliver is good for their bosses, too. But there’s much more to it than that.
Diversity and inclusion isn’t just a box-ticking exercise; there are good reasons why organisations should aim to include a variety of experiences, viewpoints and skills. It opens them up to a broader range of perspectives and opinions, limiting the risk of groupthink and bringing more unique ideas and solutions to any given problem. It contributes to creativity and competitiveness; offers access to a wider talent pool; and makes it easier to get the right skillset for the job.
So what does all this mean for you? It means that if you want a diverse, inclusive workforce, whose employees offer an equally diverse range of skills and experiences, you need to create a culture in which they can thrive.
That means understanding your employees’ individual circumstances – remembering that not all challenges are visible. It means taking the time to understand what working arrangements will help your people to do their best work, and designing solutions that ensure that everyone is included. Training and empowering managers to have 1:1 conversations with their team members about workplace flex is a key part of this.
And in today’s Covid-affected landscape, it means deliberately working to mitigate against proximity bias, putting processes in place to make sure that people who are in the office more frequently don’t receive preferential treatment. If you’re not sure how to design inclusive hybrid working arrangements, we can help; do get in touch to find out more.
Published January 2022
The government’s Flexible Working Taskforce, of which our Co-Founder Emma Stewart is a member, has published a guide to support companies with designing and implementing hybrid working practices.
As well as explaining the business case for hybrid working, the guide offers practical advice and tips on a range of relevant workplace issues, including:
We shared our insights to support the development of the guide, as well as providing case studies and resources for further reading.
You can download it using the link below. And if you need any support with implementing the recommendations, we can help; feel free to drop us an email to start a conversation.
By Amy Butterworth, Consultancy Director, Timewise
The government’s decision in early December to implement Plan B sees employees once again being asked to work from home where possible. Even before the arrival of the Omicron variant, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jonathan Van Tam had stated that we might not experience workplace normality until spring 2022. With the new variant in play, this is likely to be delayed further.
So, hybrid working is here to stay, but how is it working in practice? Here we explore some of the positive initiatives which are happening on the ground, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.
From traditional 9-5 offices to innovative start-ups, everyone has been on a steep learning curve about hybrid working. As a result, we’re talking more openly about working patterns, wellbeing in the workplace and flexible opportunities, all of which can be supported by hybrid working.
And while the government’s proposed Flex from Day one legislation leaves the onus on the employee rather than the employer to suggest flexible working conditions, it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
The humble lanyard has been a surprise hit in helping establish safe, flexible working. Some businesses, including our client Michelmores LLP have introduced a traffic light lanyard system to reflect the amount of contact employees feel comfortable in allowing. Wearing a red lanyard means, ‘Hi! I’m keeping my distance’, amber says, ‘Okay with talking but not touching’, while green indicates, ‘Okay with hugs and high fives’.
Similarly, the Department of Health and Social Care has provided downloadable badges saying, ‘Please give me space. Be kind. Thank you for understanding’, for those concerned about social distancing.
Feeling like part of a team is hugely important for achieving shared goals and boosting morale, but it’s hard to build those essential bonds on a screen. At the same time, some tasks require a level of focus that’s hard to achieve in the office. Hybrid working has freed up office-based employees to match the work to the location, working from home on deep-dive projects and coming in for connection and collaboration.
The gradual return to the office has given everyone more time to prepare for a hybrid working reality. Companies have been able to set up desk-booking systems to manage office availability, discover whether Zoom, Skype or Slack works best for their employees and adjust to the complications of managing teams in differing locations.
Of course, as well as the positives that are coming out of hybrid working, there’s no question that it is raising some unexpected challenges. When the pandemic started there was a great deal of goodwill between employers and employees. Now, as temporary measures become more permanent, there are many questions to face and answers to discover.
While knowledge workers such as accountants and lawyers can work productively from home, 46% of UK employees still don’t have access to flexible working according to CIPD research. Workers in areas like retail and construction often need to be physically present in their place of work; most office workers at BT, for example, will be able to work from home one or two days a week, but that flexibility won’t apply to the company’s engineers.
It’s a common dilemma for managers and, as we’ve noted previously, the risk is that a two-tier system could develop where location workers lose out in terms of pay, benefits and lifestyle.
Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann has warned of a she-cession, with female employees becoming less visible and influential in the workplace because they opt to work from home. But loss of influence while working from home is also a risk for people with health issues, those in caring roles, introverts who thrive in quieter environments and indeed anyone who desires a better balance for their work and home lives.
Getting hybrid right means creating an inclusive culture and practices which takes all these groups into account.
Remote and hybrid patterns mean we need to consider how we are judging employee contributions and performance. Not being able to share an office means that you may not be aware of all their interactions with colleagues and clients. And how can other staff members give feedback for a 360° evaluation if they only see their co-worker during the occasional Zoom meeting?
Similarly, it’s important to consider whether employee objectives are focused on outputs or are subject to hybrid bias. And to review your own approach to evaluating performance; is it overly based on visibility rather than delivery?
Remote working has made it possible for people to compete for high pay, high prestige jobs in cities without having to live there or even commute, so how can suburban and rural companies compete? What unique benefit or EVP (employee value proposition) could be offered? What should happen to London weighting allowances? How should HR departments calculate market rate salaries?
These are tricky issues – but they cannot be ignored, because hybrid working is here to stay. Employers who want to attract and retain the brightest talent need to take action to ensure a motivated, successful team for the long term.
Published December 2021
By Amy Butterworth, Consultancy Director, Timewise
Bank of England economist Catherine Mann’s views on the impact of homeworking on women’s careers have certainly caused a stir. Speaking at an event hosted by Financial News magazine, Ms Mann noted that many women (particularly those with family responsibilities) were continuing to work from home, whereas men, for whom it was easier, were increasingly returning to the office.
As Ms Mann noted, this represents a real risk for female career progression: “There is the potential for two tracks. There’s the people who are on the virtual track and people who are on a physical track. And I do worry that we will see those two tracks develop, and we will pretty much know who’s going to be on which track, unfortunately.”
Yes, it’s a risk, but it’s not inevitable – and it’s not just women who are affected
Here at Timewise, we’d agree that this is a risk; indeed, it’s something we’ve been highlighting for some time. As we noted back in January 2021, unevenly implemented hybrid working and behavioural bias can lead to an influence gap between an office-based ‘in-crowd’ and their more remote-based peers.
And while women with family responsibilities are disproportionately likely to be affected, they’re not the only ones. Introverts, carers, or people with mental and physical health needs may also prefer to work from home, for very valid reasons. Not to mention those who don’t have any specific circumstances, but who have discovered that a balance of in-office and working from home has dramatically improved their wellbeing, and want to stick with it.
However, the good news is, this really isn’t inevitable. It is within employers’ power to mitigate the risk, by having a proactive, flexible working strategy in place, and developing an inclusive culture in which remote and in-office workers are equally respected and represented.
So employers who care about inclusion, diversity and career progression for all (which is as good for business as it is for individuals), or who want to have a wide talent pool to choose from when recruiting (which is critical in the current skills shortage era) need to step up and make it happen. Here’s how.
Instead of making office work the default, and working from home an option that people can take-or-leave, design a deliberate, considered hybrid approach for everyone. This could include setting an expectation that all members of the team whose jobs allow have a balance of in-office and WFH time – including senior leaders. Or requiring managers to have proactive conversations with their teams about ways of working and what patterns will work best.
And remember to make it worth people’s while to come in; office time should be spent on activities where in-person collaboration is helpful, rather than sitting at a desk with headphones on to drown out the noise. Look at what tasks are best carried out at each location, and encourage people to map out their week accordingly.
To do this well, we’d recommend skilling up your HR and management teams in flexible job design. We can help.
The chances are, your performance management processes were created for the pre-Covid era – which means they may not be fit for hybrid purpose. So, for example, make sure your performance management systems focus on outputs and outcomes rather than inputs. And create processes to make sure that projects are allocated fairly, rather than just to the person who happens to be sitting next to you.
We all got used to Zoom and Teams meetings during lockdown, but when some of the team are in and others are out, you need to use different tactics to create an even playing field. For example, we suggest allocating an in-the-room buddy to those dialling in to a hybrid meeting, to advocate for them in the room and make sure their views are heard.
It’s also worth thinking about other key elements of the employee lifecycle which may need adapting to a hybrid working pattern, such as recruitment, onboarding and training.
And it’s not just about meetings; it’s also worth remembering that supporting a hybrid team requires different communication plans and management skills, so managers need to be trained to do it well.
Understanding whether this risk is materialising into a reality in your company is something you’ll need to keep an eye on. So we’d recommend putting in place a process for monitoring the progression and retention of your flexible workers.
To do this – and to do it well – will doubtless require an investment of your time and energy. But it’s worth it on so many levels – indeed, we’d argue that you can’t afford not to.
If you are serious about diversity and inclusion, and linked issues such as the gender pay gap, you need to create equality of opportunity for colleagues for whom being permanently in the office isn’t ideal. If you believe that having happy, well-balanced employees is as good for the business as it is for them, and want to attract, keep, and nurture brilliant people, you need to offer them the flexibility they say they want.
Ideally this would be broken down into the different forms of flex (hybrid, WFH only, part-time) so you can track the impact on different cohorts. This will help you take action against the type of two-track career progression that Mann cautioned about, and create flexible career paths to enable your talent to thrive.
And if you are keen to be seen as a forward-looking employer, you need to develop a new way of working, rather than reverting to pre-Covid norms. Your brand reputation – and your staff – are counting on you to do just that.
Published November 2021
Big Society Capital exists to improve the lives of people in the UK through social impact investing. They unite ideas, expertise and capital to create investment solutions for the UK’s social challenges, supporting organisations that deliver both positive social impact and sustainable financial returns. The company has around 75 employees, with an office in central London.
Leaders at Big Society Capital have long been keen to ensure that their staff work in a way that fits with the rest of their lives, and helps them do their best work. 25% of employees work part-time, and the company is currently working to a hybrid model, with employees spending between 20% and 40% of their time in the office.
The HR team at Big Society Capital wanted to find a middle way between employees putting in formal requests for flexible working and having an informal chat. They were also determined to build on the positive learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic, and make sure they were firmly embedded.
Big Society Capital were aware of our long-held expertise in this are and sought our advice on the best approach.
Our team worked closely with the HR lead to explore the different options available. This included discussing a range of ideas and sharing examples of good practice from our other clients. We concluded that the best approach would be to create a framework and principles for discussion.
We collaborated with the team to create these, and received positive feedback and approval from the Executive Committee. Additionally, we sought feedback from managers, to check that they would work in practice, and delivered training on how best to implement them.
At the time of writing, the framework and principles are still relatively new. The HR team are committed to evaluating them on a regular basis and making any tweaks that are necessary. Plans include a formal evaluation through their next employee engagement survey, and a review of the number of formal and informal requests taking place following the change.
Anecdotally, the framework and principles have been well received. The team have put in place regular surgeries for staff to come and ask any questions they may have about how to use them.
The client’s view
“If you have a small HR team, having external expertise and support is incredibly helpful when you’re creating a new set of working practices. Amy was brilliant; she gave a huge amount of coaching, advice and feedback, and her depth of knowledge and insights from other organisations on what works meant we developed a really robust framework and principles which I’m confident will succeed.” Julia Boddy, Head of HR, Big Society Capital.
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