We worked with three trailblazing employers to introduce flexibility into hard-to-flex frontline roles and tracked the impact with the Institute for Employment Studies.
By Dr Sarah Dauncey, Head of Partnerships and Insight, Timewise
Since the pandemic, numerous studies have highlighted the benefits of hybrid and remote working for employees. Hybrid working models have been found to have positive impacts on workers, especially in relation to health and happiness. While it’s great to see this evidence showing the value of place-based flexibility, what about the millions of workers who can’t access it? The majority of the workforce (60%) are site-based and shouldn’t miss out on the advantages associated with having autonomy and control over working patterns, including improved health and work-life balance.
For too long, the UK workforce has been divided between those who can access flexibility and those who can’t. This divide was amplified through the pandemic, and we’re still reeling from the effects of this – with high levels of sickness absence and rising economic inactivity largely attributed to poor health.
For frontline and site-based workers, there has been limited coordinated action to redress workplace inequalities. And with the new government promising to make flexible working the default from day one, it’s critical we understand how to do this in site-based roles and build the evidence to incentivise employers to take action.
In 2022, we initiated a programme to address this inequity in access to flexible working by partnering with the Institute for Employment Studies and with the backing of Impact on Urban Health. We approached three employers who we knew were committed to taking their flexible working agenda forward, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Sir Robert McAlpine and Wickes. Over the course of the programme, Timewise supported each employer to introduce greater flexibility into frontline roles and the Institute for Employment Studies tracked the effect of these interventions. We wanted to test whether good quality work would improve employee health and wellbeing, and lead to benefits for employers, such as improved retention.
The institute of Employment Studies led an independent evaluation of the work and found that flexibility gave rise to a number of positive outcomes.
But perhaps the best way to demonstrate the impact of the programme is through the voices of those involved:
A Store Manager from Wickes, said: “The trial has made me appreciate my job more, and (if possible) has made me even more loyal to Wickes, as I have the best work-life balance I have ever had in all the years I have been at Wickes.”
While a Quantity Surveyor from Sir Robert McAlpine, said: “If I hadn’t been given this opportunity, I think the conversation would have been about going part-time. I couldn’t cope with balancing childcare and a full-time job. Financially that would have had a very negative impact on me. I wouldn’t have been in a good place mentally and I probably wouldn’t be as productive.”
Through our programme and its evaluation, we’ve gained some valuable insights for other organisations looking to introduce flexibility for frontline and site-based employees.
For our participating organisations, there’s no going back to former ways of working. They’ve embraced the changes and are scaling up to ensure that everyone can benefit through increased input and control over their working pattern. For example, since participating in the programme, Wickes has widenened access to flexible options to all their store managers across the UK.
All three employers demonstrated that listening to employees and taking the initiative to increase flexible working opportunities – despite the operational challenges of doing so – delivers rewards. They are vanguards of flexible working in critical sectors, offering learnings for other organisations to benefit from.
Our programme provides much needed evidence to drive action among employers and improve workplace and health equity for frontline and site-based workers. Flexible working is not just an option for knowledge workers – it’s a way of working that should be and can be available to all.
Published July 2024
The pandemic amplified existing labour market inequalities in access to flexible working and we’re still reeling from the effects of this, especially in the context of health. While half of working adults were able to work from home at times during the pandemic, others weren’t given this option due to the location-based nature of their work.
The reality of a two-tier workforce – the ‘flexible haves and have nots’ – became starkly apparent along with the implications for worker health and wellbeing.
Emerging from the pandemic, workers given home-based options have expressed a strong interest in maintaining them. Many employers have responded to this demand by developing hybrid policies and practice, recognising its value for attraction and retention. Yet there’s been limited coordinated action to redress workplace inequalities by investing in innovation and design to organise work differently for frontline and site-based employees.
So, supported by Impact on Urban Health, Timewise joined with the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and three trailblazing employers – Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Sir Robert McAlpine and Wickes – in a two-year long action research programme to introduce flexibility into frontline roles and evaluate its impact, on both the individual and the organisation. Our report outlines the findings from our journey together and shares learnings to make access to flexible working more equitable.
We tested the idea that good quality flexible work improves employee health and wellbeing, leading to benefits for employers, such as improved retention. Timewise co-designed activity with each of the three participating employers to give site-based workers greater input and control over their working patterns. Then in collaboration with IES, we considered the impact of increased flexibility on individuals from the point of view of their experience of health and wellbeing, work-life balance and job satisfaction, and on organisations from the perspective of levels of engagement, attendance and retention.
Our programme shows that flexibility is both central to how people want to work in the future and is practically possible even in ‘hard to flex’ roles. Where flexibility is introduced with the support of senior leaders, and is driven by teams at a local level, it results in positive impacts for both individuals and organisations. Workers report improvements to health and wellbeing, work-life balance, and a desire to stay longer with their employer. For employers, this means higher levels of employee engagement, lower levels of sickness absence and increased staff retention.
For the organisations involved in this programme, there’s no going back to former ways of working. They’ve embraced the changes and are moving forward with plans to scale up to ensure all are able to benefit through increased input and control over their working pattern.
Published July 2024
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust are an accredited Timewise Trust – an accolade that is awarded to Trusts that demonstrate commitment to enabling flexible working for their teams Part of this is developing creative and innovative approaches to working patterns and arrangements.
Any Hours is an example of such innovation. The immediate post-pandemic period inspired ‘Any Hours’, the brainchild of Susanne Chatterley, Associate Director of Midwifery & Neonatal services at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. More than 300 midwives work across the Trust, delivering 5,000 – 7,000 babies a year.
A standard shift in midwifery is 12.5 hours and is set at 8.00am – 8.30pm, or 8.00pm – 8.30am.
A full time job requires working 13 shifts across a month – 3 weeks of 3 x shifts and 1 week of 4 x shifts. There are typically unfilled shifts within any NHS roster. The Nuffield Trust estimates that there around and around 8,000 to 12,000 unfilled nursing vacancies on a given day in England. In many cases, existing staff try to take on extra shifts where they can, or else agency staff are used. Traditionally in the NHS taking on an extra shift requires commitment to the full 12.5 hour day.
Susanne realised she could boost capacity by challenging the ’12.5hrs only’ mindset, when it came to filling vacant shifts.
She says: “In 2022, we had just gone through the second significant bout of Covid. I recognised that we had one group of experienced midwives who routinely picked up one or two extra 12.5 hour shifts a week – and these were the staff who were burning out. There was also a second group, with just as much experience, but who simply couldn’t pick up such lengthy additional shifts. They wanted to help their colleagues – but had young children to pick up from school, or elderly relatives to look after in their day. I thought to myself – how do I unlock this group, and how can I help the staff experiencing burnout? Then I thought – what if staff could choose their extra hours? What if they could stipulate how much extra time they could give – 3, 4, 8 hours, whatever it is – and choose when to work them?”
Susanne had a conversation with the midwifery team and followed with a survey to see if they’d like to work extra paid shifts and what hours they would pick if it was up to them. The results came back showing a strong desire to work more, especially against the background of the cost of living crisis, but that for many midwives, an extra 12.5 hour shift was too long. Susanne says: “All I had to do, was make it work.”
That was two years ago. The scheme has been an outstanding success. Wherever there are shifts that are unfilled, Any Hours allows midwives to choose the number of additional hours they want to work, and when they would like to work them. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust data shows that since the Any Hours Scheme was enacted, it has it has enabled, on average, 300 hours of shifts to be filled each month, equalling two whole time equivalent midwives. This has reduced reliance on agency staff, and increased satisfaction with the team.
This has been achieved without buying in any additional software or making significant changes to the online rostering system staff already use to book shifts via their phones.
Susanne says: “The key difference is that all unfilled shifts are open to ‘Any hours’ – I let them ask for any additional hours they want, whatever the length and whenever they are. We always end up with a much fuller roster than we have had in previous years.”
“I also have a rule which is ‘hard stop’. We let staff finish their shift exactly when expected. If we start keeping people beyond the agreed shifts then the whole system starts to fall apart. It works because people feel they have autonomy, control and balance.”
“We also worked hard on making sure the extra shifts would work. Patient safety is of course our paramount concern. We spent time with senior clinical colleagues to think about how a 3, 4, or 5 hour extra shift would work. In terms of patient care, we wanted to ensure women have the same person with them as much as possible through their journey.”
“When you start thinking about shorter chunks of time, say a 3 or 4 hour shift rather than a 12.5 hour one, you need to think through – what can you usefully do in that period? It isn’t enough time to start a birthing journey with a patient. But you can support the whole ward and the midwives who are doing that. You can do baby checks so others can go home sooner, you can do the drug rounds, you could maybe host 1 clinic, or do postnatal visits. The key was finding jobs that fit the shorter hours.”
“And what I found was – people got really creative! One midwife comes at 11pm and she stays until 5 or 6am. I would never ask anyone to do that kind of shift routinely, but for her, it means she can work while her own children sleep and she is back for the school run. It fits her life.”
“We really saw the benefits over the Christmas period. Staffing is always a headache at that time of year, you usually end up redoing the rota 2 or 3 times and invariably end up short of staff.”
“But last year, I crunched the numbers after Christmas and realised we had equal to 4 whole-time equivalents more than usual– the best fill rate we have ever had. All those shifts would have otherwise been unfilled. People came in, working in 3 or 4 hour bursts to help out, and for the extra money at an expensive time of year. I felt all warm and fluffy on the inside when I saw that! I spoke to colleagues – they said they would never have come in to work a full extra shift because it would have interfered with their plans. What’s brilliant is – we are retaining staff known to us, with experience and skill who knows the service inside out, rather than having to just use agency staff.”
“The scheme has been going for two years now, and is well established. I don’t think I have ever turned anyone down – we are always able to offer what people want. The key has been flexibility and handing over a sense of control. People now have their regular patterns they have fallen into. Patterns that suit their lives.”
“What’s exciting is that Any Hours is completely replicable across the board. It works within the existing system. It can work in other departments, and for other Trusts.”
Any Hours is a part of Susanne’s doctorate, focusing on midwives who take up and use the offer, and colleagues who work with them. Susanne is completing a DBA in Business Administration at Aston University; Business School in Birmingham.
Susanne is already working on her next innovation project: ‘Any Speciality’, aiming to retain midwives who are 5 years + qualified (though those who are less qualified can also take part).
Any Speciality is a programme that encourages all midwives to spend 15 hours a month, or two days, in a different speciality of their choice. This allows colleagues to improve the competencies and skills needed to help their career progression, or even to directly apply for a specialist midwife role at the trust. To date, speciality teams have recruited nine midwives following Any Speciality contact at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.
Susanne says: “The opportunity is to ‘try before you buy’, when looking at another speciality as a possibility. I took one of the many of vacancies I had and chopped it up into 10 pieces, which leaves you with 15 hours a month (one tenth of a full time job). We offer this to anyone who has an interest in another speciality. The jump between core to speciality midwife is really big nowadays. And often, when someone makes the jump they don’t realise what they are signing up to – and they drop out or move on quickly if the role is not what they expected it to be.”
“Any Speciality is available for 1 year after that time – you may realise you hate it! That’s ok – you have tried it. You aren’t locked in. Or you just might love it. When the right job comes up, you can apply for it as you have the lived experience.”
Published July 2024
By Amy Butterworth, Consultancy Director
As Marcus Buckingham notably said, “People leave managers, not companies.” That’s why companies that take retention seriously tend to make sure their managers have the skills they need to lead and support their teams. But it’s fair to say that recent events have created some fundamental new challenges for managers to deal with – and in many cases, the training hasn’t caught up.
Despite the move to remote working during lockdown, and the subsequent shift towards a hybrid model, research from the University of Birmingham found that only 43% of managers had received any training in how to manage hybrid teams. It’s not a stretch to say that this could be why 47% of line managers are finding work more stressful than pre-pandemic. And with many companies now struggling to find the right balance between time spent in and outside the office, having skilled-up line managers is becoming even more critical.
It’s for this reason that we joined forces with our friends at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) to run a three-month project, Making hybrid work for you and your team, exploring what’s happening on the ground with hybrid working, and what difference intensive management training can make. And the results surprised even us.
By Amy Butterworth, Consultancy Director
The year ahead is set to be a big one for working practices. The right to request flexible working from the first day in a new job will come into effect on 6 April – something we’ve long been calling for (and would love to see go further). And there are strong indications that we will see a change of government, to a party whose intentions include extending workers’ rights, closing major employment gaps, and implementing a right to switch off.
Outside of these two big changes, what does 2024 hold? Here are some of the flexible working trends we will be keeping a close eye on this year.
Recent months have seen an intensification of efforts by some employers to increase the amount of time their employees spend in the office. From a top City law firm tracking when employees enter and leave their headquarters, to Nationwide scrapping its ‘work anywhere’ policy, the direction of travel is towards a more structured approach of set days on which employees are expected to be in the building.
However, despite a slew of articles blaming the WFH culture for everything from delaying HS2 to shrinking the car market, few organisations have mandated that their employees must come back full-time. And according to a British Chambers of Commerce and Cisco survey, only one in four companies expect their staff to be in the office full-time in the coming years.
Understandably, employees are keen to retain the home-work balance that they gained following the pandemic; the cost of living crisis has also made people extra keen to limit their commuting costs. And as the protests from Amazon employees over a return-to-office mandate have shown, they are unlikely to give WFH up without a fight.
We are firm advocates for the value of in-person time, believing that cohesion and collaboration are improved when team members spend some of their working time together. But we also believe employers need to take steps to ensure they deliver that value, and create a culture in which employees are supported to make both their in-office and remote time count. And that setting an arbitrary number of days that people need to come in, without thinking about what they are coming in for, isn’t the right way to go about it.
The evidence suggests that a degree of WFH is here to stay, and it’s in employers’ interests to accept it; as Clare McCartney from the CIPD has noted, “It’s likely that organisations are going to struggle to attract and keep talent if they want people in the office full-time, five days a week.”
Early 2024 will see new measures introduced which aim to reduce net migration – but will also reduce the pool of people coming from abroad to work.
The policy change means that people coming to the UK on health and care visas will not be able to bring dependents with them (the NHS is not affected). It also increases the minimum salary threshold for employees coming to the UK on a skilled worker visa from £26,200 to £38,700, which will hit sectors including hospitality and manufacturing.
The immigration minister Robert Jenrick has accepted that we “will see a reduction in the number of people coming to work in social care from overseas” and that “we hope and expect [vacancies] will be filled by British workers”. But there are already a large number of economically inactive adults in the UK; last year’s ONS figures put it at around 9 million people, of which 1.7 million said they want a job. So employers in these sectors will need to be more creative if they want to encourage homegrown talent to fill these roles.
Flexible working is a powerful talent attraction tool, and the lack of it can make people leave; the CIPD found last year that 4 million people had changed careers due to a lack of flex. And while some of the affected sectors are location-based (and so less compatible with remote working), there are a range of other options.
So, employers who are serious about attracting UK residents back into work would be wise to think outside the box and explore the viability of arrangements such as part-time and compressed hours. We’ve made flex work on construction sites, and have been exploring a range of options with Wickes; creative thinking can make the seemingly impossible possible.
January saw the news that Asda is trialling a four-day working week, as part of a drive to hold on to in-store managers. Asda is one of the biggest organisations to run this kind of trial so far, and is doing so as part of a ‘case for change’ which will also explore shorter shifts and other flexible arrangements.
Interest in the four-day week has grown at pace since the results of a six-month pilot involving 61 companies were published last year. And it’s certainly popular with employees; Gartner research noted that 63% of candidates surveyed ranked it as their top offering, and online bank Atom Bank saw a 500% increase in job applications immediately after announcing it was introducing a four-day week for its 430 staff.
However, there has also been a government backlash towards public-sector organisations who have carried out trials, with South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) ordered to end theirs by the local government minister, and being issued with a ‘best value notice’ when they refused to do so.
We’re fully behind the drive to experiment with different flexible working models, and believe pilots are an excellent, lower-risk way to do so. And while we don’t agree with the Gartner analysis that 2024 is the year that the four-day week goes from radical to routine, we hope and expect to see more examples of four-day week trials in the year ahead. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the SCDC pilots (due to finish in March this year), and on whether other public sector organisations take the plunge despite the censure that SCDC received.
These are just three examples of how 2024 is likely to be a year of meaningful change in working practices; and our work to drive that change will continue. We’ve got some exciting projects to share with you, including a listening project supported by Phoenix which will explore part-time experiences.
We’re also increasing our focus on ways of working to support inclusion. One such project involves us working in partnership with Runnymede to research the relationship between flexible working and ethnicity (supported by Impact on Urban Health).
And of course, we’ll be working with more employers and sector groups to design, test and implement sustainable flexible working, both for office-based and frontline employees. How will the flexible working market look by the end of 2024? We can’t wait to see.
Published January 2024
Michelmores, an all-services law firm with 450 staff and offices in Exeter, Bristol, London and Cheltenham offers agile working (a combination of working in office and at home) to all staff, where possible in the role. Prior to the pandemic, Michelmores had many individual flexible arrangements and sought to accommodate staff requests when possible.
During the pandemic, during which almost all of Michelmores’ staff worked from home, HR and the senior partners foresaw that they would need to re-imagine the workplace once the return-to-office started. It was difficult to know what the range of options should be and to anticipate their implications. They wanted support in developing new ways of working and to engage staff in the process.
Michelmores came to Timewise looking for an expert view, the wider context of what was happening in the greater labour market and thoughts on how to plan ahead. Colette Stevens, HR Director at Michelmores, says: “Timewise have a real depth of understanding of all the different flexible working options, what the implications would be of pursuing them and a strong commitment to understanding Michelmores’ needs, context and ambitions. Timewise gave us a framework and process within which to explore ideas, challenge thinking and think about different options.”
Timewise convened a working group, made up of Michelmores’ Managing Partner Tim Richards, HR Director Colette Stevens and other senior partners. This team developed the firm’s Agile Working framework with Timewise’s input and guidance. Fairness sits as a core principle within this framework: the goal is to provide all employees with the opportunity to balance working from home and in the office, as agreed within their teams. The framework provides a practical structure, as to the ‘how’. By way of guiding values, the group wanted to ensure that:
Team leaders were tasked with helping to identify any underlying issues and collaboratively working through the implications of agile working in detail with their teams. The agreed framework was rolled out for a year-long trial, with regular feedback from staff at all levels.
Recognising the critical role of managers, Timewise ran bespoke training sessions to help them feel capable and confident in implementing the agile working framework for their teams. Timewise then worked closely with the project team to facilitate follow up review sessions a few months into the trial, for managers to share good practice, seek support and ask questions.
The agile working approach adopted by Michelmores has been a great success, with over 80% of staff expressing satisfaction with how they can work, giving them greater choice and freedom. Set this against the wider context of the pandemic’s impact upon the legal profession. A 2021 study by Gartner of 202 corporate lawyers found 68% were ready to start looking for a new job.
Michelmores prides itself upon enhanced talent attraction. It now offers a more flexible approach than many other law firms, and this is having an impact on its reputation as a great employer. As one recent joiner comments: “The flexibility offered was a huge factor in my decision to join Michelmores. My previous firm wanted fixed three days in the office, and my commute is long.”
It has also created the opportunity to attract candidates from a wider geographical area than before. Another new joiner says: “…being sure agile worked in practice was my first question. It meant I could join and not have to relocate.”
Michelmores continues to monitor and evolve its agile working approach, including understanding the impact on new joiners such as these and developing induction and onboarding processes to suit new ways of working. Valuing the different office sites and bringing people together in person continue to be important for the organisation as it grows. Working in an agile way encourages teams to use office time more intentionally and the Michelmores agile working approach, with the flexibility that it brings, is now firmly part of the organisational culture.
Colette Stevens, HR Director of Michelmores, summarises: “Timewise really listened to what we were grappling with and what was important for us. They helped us co-curate our approach to agile working and differentiate what we can offer the market.”
Published January 2024
By Amy Butterworth, Head of Consultancy, Timewise
It’s no secret that retail is a tough nut to crack when it comes to flexible working. The industry is the UK’s largest private sector employer, with around 5 million people in its workforce. But while some roles, such as sales assistants and head office staff, tend to allow for some part-time and flexible working, there’s a real lack of these opportunities within retail management. And that, in turn, is having a knock-on effect on companies’ ability to attract and keep staff.
So it’s pretty big news that Wickes, the home improvement retailer, is committing to making all roles open to flexible working, from the point of hire. What’s driving this decision? And how can they be so sure that it’s the right one? The answer – because they are passionate about creating a workplace culture where all colleagues can feel at home and thrive and because they’ve worked with us to explore the art of the possible and test it out.
While Wickes have had real success in making entry-level in-store roles more flexible, they had become aware that access to flexible management roles was very limited, and that their managers were finding it challenging to fit their responsibilities into their allocated hours. So before approaching us for support, they did some digging to try and find out why.
The process saw them interrogate the responsibilities of three management roles: store managers, operations managers and duty managers. This revealed occasional confusion about who should be doing what, which in turn was limiting the managers’ efficiency and effectiveness. It also highlighted that some managers felt a responsibility to be in-store that didn’t necessarily match service needs.
Mark Reynolds is Store Manager of Wickes in Tottenham. He says:
“Before the trial I was probably doing five long days in store. I remember having my review. I’d just won Store Manger of the Year. But my home life wasn’t great. My daughter was 3.5 and my other was newborn.”
“I’m a self-confessed workaholic, and put in all the hours I can. But I had started to realise that a change was needed. I wasn’t getting any time at home with my wife. She was getting no support from me. And I had started to drift from my friends, who always get together at weekends (when I used always to be working).”
Tanya Tozer works in the Worksop store. She has 3 children – all girls, aged 5, 9 and 12. Her middle daughter, Ava-May, has a rare genetic condition called De Grouchy syndrome which requires a lot of support at home. She says: “I didn’t think I needed to change my working pattern, but on reflection, I needed the respite more than I let on, more probably than even I realised I needed it. I had been struggling with my mental health.”
So, building on our many years of experience, we worked with the Wickes team to design, trial and evaluate a six-month pilot across 14 Wickes stores. This saw us supporting the managers to redesign their working patterns, with some opting to work four longer days in-store, and others flexing their hours across the week in a way that suited their lives.
They also kept a reflective diary to track their working hours, and identify why they might be working more than they should. And they were supported by us, and each other, with monthly feedback and learning calls.
As always with our pilots, we put in place a robust system of tracking and evaluation so we could really understand what worked and why. From this, we gained some valuable learnings, including:
The pilot also busted the long-held myth that managers need to be on-site at all hours, and highlighted the fact that when managers step back, they create space for their junior colleagues to step up.
There was no negative impact on store performance or KPIs, and the feedback we received from the pilot participants speaks for itself; 96.5% of store managers were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their work-life balance at the end of the pilot (up from 66.5% pre-pilot).
But perhaps the best way to demonstrate the impact of the pilot is to hear from the people involved.
Tanya says the change to her working pattern, has changed her life: “Now, I can go to the gym, I can do some crafting. I have always had Tuesdays off, as these tend to be hospital days. But having Fridays off is really making a difference in my life. The girls are in school. It is my day for me.”
And it has also helped her team: “I think it’s had a really positive impact on the team. It has helped everyone feel more accountable. I’ve had to strengthen some of my weaker areas; build in more planning and more structure. I’ve also had to delegate more and it has been great to see the team step up to the challenge and grow.”
And here’s Mark again, on how this different way of working has affected him personally:
“At first, I felt a lot of guilt and responsibility. But gradually I realised – it was just about setting a new norm. Getting the processes in place was not easy, but once you get there – it’s a different way to live and work. A better one. I’ve developed a new phrase: happy home life, happy work life. I am a happier me.”
He’s also clear about the effect he believes it will have on the future of Wickes, and the retail industry as a whole:
“We have a WhatsApp group called Trailblazers – we all believe we are part of shaping the next generation. We feel part of something special. At the moment I am looking at ways to retain colleagues who are mothers, and possibly help them onto the management track. Make one small change and a thousand more will follow… people will stay and build their careers as their lives change. I don’t see any negatives whatsoever.”
Unsurprisingly, given the pilot’s success, Wickes are now rolling it out across all stores to more roles, those of duty manager and operations manager. They’re doing so as part of our wider Flexible Working for All action research programme, supported by Impact on Urban Health, with Guys’ and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Sir Robert McAlpine also taking part, which aims to show the impact of embedding good quality flexible working for all on both employees and organisations.
And as Louise Tait, Wickes’ Head of HR, OD and Talent noted when she appeared as a panellist at a Timewise webinar, there’s a hope within Wickes that the retail industry will have a mindset shift and start asking “What’s the right thing to do” when it comes to offering flexible working. With this kind of evidence of the power of flex to change companies’ cultures and people’s lives, why wouldn’t they?
Published January 2024
By Clare McNeil, Director, Timewise Innovation Unit
The explosion in flexible working as a result of the pandemic – particularly in its home and hybrid working forms – had a clear impact on the number of flexibly advertised jobs. After creeping up by a percent or two each year from our first Flexible Jobs Index in 2015, just 15% of roles were advertised with flexible options in 2019. By 2022, that number had doubled to 30%.
It’s therefore disappointing to see from this year’s Index that this rate of growth has dramatically slowed. Our research indicates that 31% of job adverts now overtly offer some form of flexible working; a negligible change from the previous year, and a big drop from the kind of increases we’ve got used to. And even the growth in the number of home and hybrid working jobs that are advertised as flexible – which went up 9% between 2019 and 2022 – has stalled.
So does this mean that we’ve hit a peak in the proportion of jobs that are advertised as flexible? Is this it? We’re clear that it mustn’t be.
The fact is, the need and demand for flexible working are as strong as ever. Although the vacancy peak of 2022 is slowing, economic growth continues to be held back by a tight labour market, and in many sectors, including healthcare, education and hospitality, staff shortages are at critical levels. Given that 9 in 10 people want to work flexibly, and 4 million UK employees have changed careers due to a lack of flexibility at work, it seems hugely short-sighted that employers are failing to use flexible working to attract new staff.
It’s not just about getting employees in, either; flexible working has a huge part to play in creating strong, healthy workplaces in which people stay, and thrive. It’s been shown to improve health and wellbeing, increase inclusion for key groups (including parents, carers and people with health issues), reduce absenteeism and even boost productivity. What’s more, our research has indicated that the changes required to offer flexible working can pay for themselves in just a few years, through reduced sickness absence and improved staff retention.
All of which makes it surprising that more companies aren’t including flexible working in their talent toolkits. And with new legislation due to be introduced in spring 2024, which gives people the right to request flexible working from day one in a new job, it really is time for employers to get off the fence and start proactively offering it to new employees at the point of hire.
So how can we get back to a position where the number of flexibly advertised jobs is increasing at a more promising rate? Our Flexible Jobs Index sets out a number of actions that employers and policymakers can take, including:
These changes, and the others recommended in our report, could reboot the growth in flexibly advertised jobs, and get us back on the path towards a flourishing economy, powered by a healthier, more equal workforce. Let’s not lose the momentum that we gained during and after the pandemic; we need to keep moving forwards, and we need to start now.
Published November 2023
By Claire Campbell, CEO
The decision by South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) to trial a four-day working week during 2023, and to extend it to include refuse workers, has created a flurry of comment – not all of it positive. Critics including the TaxPayers’ Alliance have blasted it as “simply unacceptable”, and the local government minister, Lee Rowley, backed by Michael Gove, has asked the council to “end your experiment immediately.”
So, are they right? Unsurprisingly, we don’t think so.
As we’ve noted previously the four-day working week is a hot topic in the flexible working sphere. 4-Day Week Global’s six-month UK pilot involved 61 companies, and produced encouraging results. And we know from our discussions that other organisations, including other councils, have been considering their own trials.
However, the media attention SCDC have received is likely to make some organisations wary of following suit. And that’s a shame, not least because what makes their pilot particularly interesting to those of us with a social agenda as well as a business one, is that it involves frontline employees – a group who have been largely left out of the remote working revolution, and are at risk of becoming ‘flex have-nots’ as a result.
What some of the more negative commentators appear to be missing is that SCDC aren’t just implementing this way of working on a whim; they’re piloting it and assessing the results before deciding whether to take it further.
The data from the initial trial, which involved 450 mainly desk-based workers, indicated that there are concrete benefits to be had, such as recruiting into hard-to-fill roles and reducing agency worker spend (by around £550,000 at September this year). And it is only after evaluating this data, which was independently reviewed, that SCDC decided to expand it.
And that, surely, is the point of a pilot. It allows you to take an innovative concept – which reducing people’s working hours with no change in pay certainly is – and test what works, and what doesn’t, on a small scale. As a result, you can keep the good stuff, fix any flaws, and generally refine your plans before rolling them out more widely.
It’s certainly a model we believe in here at Timewise; our Innovation Unit has carried out pilots in a range of sectors including construction, nursing, retail and teaching. And we have also shown that the changes required to make flexible working more widely available can pay for themselves in just a few years, through reduced sickness absence and improved staff retention.
Additionally, while some outcomes might be expected – such as a four-day working week boosting retention – pilots can also reveal less predictable benefits.
For example, an employment services provider we have spoken to has found that neurodiverse jobseekers are much more comfortable coming into the office for interviews on Mondays and Fridays, when only half the staff team are in, and the office is quieter. And a retailer we have worked with, who is trialling a four-day week, has watched their deputy managers step up and develop confidence and skills on the days they are solely responsible for the store, strengthening their succession pipeline.
It’s not just the businesses who are experiencing these unexpected benefits, either. Flexible working pilots have revealed a range of positive societal outcomes, from older employees using their extra time off to look after their grandchildren, and parents enjoying admin-free quality time at the weekends, to millennials using their fifth weekday to volunteer at, or set up, community projects.
A pilot’s impact can therefore stretch way beyond the organisation to the community, in ways that may not have been factored in from the beginning, but are likely to continue once it’s over.
For all of these reasons, we believe that well-researched, well-scoped pilots are a vital tool for those of us who want to change workplaces for the better. So we’ll continue to widen access to flexible options by trialling new ways of working, and sharing what we’ve learned so that others can benefit.
And we’ll keep championing those organisations who have the vision to explore, test and refine innovative solutions to their workforce challenges – and are willing to speak up and widen the debate.
Published November 2023
By Melissa Buntine, Principal Consultant, Timewise
The launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is a hugely welcome development. The staffing crisis has been an ongoing issue within the service, with the RCN seeking legislation to protect safe staffing levels as far back as 2017. And in the intervening years, organisations within and outside the medical sphere – including Parliament’s cross-party Health and Social Care Committee – have warned that the number of unfilled posts (currently standing at 112,000) is a risk to patient safety.
The NHS took a big step towards tackling the problem with the publication of its People Plan 2020/21, which recognised the importance of flexible working as an attraction and retention tool, and committed to encouraging its employers to offer it from day one. And here at Timewise, we’ve also been focusing on this issue, working with 93 English NHS organisations last year on the Flex for the Future programme, to support the transition to more flexible working practices.
So we’re delighted that the Workforce Plan puts flexible working in the NHS at the heart of its measures, and recognises the impact it can have on staff shortages. But we also know that it will take a concerted effort to bring these commitments to life.
The plan’s commitment to “highlighting the flexibility and autonomy that NHS staff enjoy” is hugely positive, but making sure that this flexibility is fit for purpose is something else entirely. And while the People Plan’s day one flex commitment put the NHS ahead of the flexible working curve, the new legislation that makes this a UK-wide right softens that edge – and increases the likelihood of potential employees finding better-paid flexible opportunities elsewhere.
The NHS therefore needs to not just offer and highlight flexible working, but to champion it, from top to bottom, and make sure it works in practice. Here are four actions that the service could take to make this a reality.
1. Be more proactive about designing part-time and flexible roles
As in many organisations, there’s a tendency within the NHS to wait until people are about to leave, panic, then try to work out how to persuade them to stay. Flexible working is a brilliant retention tool – but instead of waiting until people have had enough, it makes more sense to offer it proactively, and to work with each individual to explore what kind of flexible working matches their needs.
We know from experience that there’s a real lack of confidence within the service about flexible job design, but it isn’t rocket science; at its core, it involves looking at when, where and how much people want or need to work, and designing the job to match. We can help.
2. Offer alternatives to the 12.5-hour shift norm
Again, as in many longstanding organisations, there’s a feeling across the NHS of “It’s always been done this way… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The length of a standard shift – a back-breaking 12.5 hours – is a perfect example of something that could merit a fresh look.
Leaders need to have the confidence to challenge this norm, and explore whether other alternatives could also work. Would it be possible to offer 6-hour shifts instead, which might be easier for people who are juggling family or caring responsibilities, or with health conditions? What would be the impact on staffing levels if they did?
3. Embrace self-rostering to give staff a say in when they work
The NHS has a high proportion of frontline staff, who work on a 24/7 shift pattern. Historically, these employees have had shifts imposed on them, and have needed to be available at any time, which is not helpful for anyone’s work-life balance. But thanks to developments in technology, it’s now possible to build rosters which take people’s preferences about when they do and don’t work into account.
We’ve previously piloted a team-based approach to rostering within nursing, using our ‘shift-life balance’ model, and found that it increased the feeling that work-life preferences were being met (from 39% to 51%), and improved the sense of a strong collective responsibility (from 16% to 36%). Both of which, clearly, are key to creating an environment in which people want to stay.
And right now, we’re working with several clients, including UCLH and Guys & St Thomas’, to introduce a self-rostering model. This allows team members to input their preferences into a roster, with ward managers then making final decisions to ensure safe staffing levels and the right skills mix. It’s a win-win, with staff really valuing the chance to have some input, and managers finding it can make the roster building and approval process much more efficient.
4. Make sure that all training can be done flexibly
The plan rightly places a big emphasis on training, both in terms of growing and upskilling the workforce. But in both cases, this training needs to be delivered in a way that is accessible to those who need to work flexibly. Otherwise, key groups who need flexibility to work – including, but not restricted to, parents, carers and those with health conditions – will fall behind their peers and potentially fall out of the workforce, or be prevented from joining it in the first place.
Clearly, changes like these take time to implement – and they won’t happen without board-level buy-in. So the NHS needs its leaders to step up now, and lead from the top, driving the behaviour change that the service needs, and even incorporating flexibility around ways of working as a design principle for their services. Professor Joe Harrison and his leadership team at Milton Keynes University Hospital are great examples of what can be achieved when leaders are vocal about the benefits of flexible working within the NHS.
It also needs to make sure that managers and HR teams have the skills they need to design and implement flexible roles. That means teaching them about the benefits of flexible working for the organisation and its staff; upskilling them in flexible job design; and training them in how to manage flexible teams. Our Flex for the Future programme set out how this can be done.
And finally, for all these recommendations to really take hold, they need to be applied across NHS systems, rather than on a trust-by-trust basis. We’re currently working with three systems –Lincolnshire, Kent & Medway, and Hampshire & the Isle of Wight – and are already seeing the value of bringing together the different parts of a local health and care system to collaborate on strategy, resources and learning. Implementing flexible working across the NHS in this way could be transformational.
And a transformational approach is what’s needed; as the Workforce Plan acknowledges, “Inaction in the face of demographic change is forecast to leave us with a shortfall of between 260,000 and 360,000 staff by 2036/37.” Patient safety is already at risk with today’s shortfall, and we can’t afford to let it get worse. The plan is an important step in the right direction; now let’s act on it.
Published October 2023
