The introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017 made developing apprenticeship schemes a priority for businesses. But although the number of people taking part in these schemes has increased, there are many groups – particularly women, people with caring responsibilities, people with disabilities and young people leaving the care system – who remain shut out. Why? Because most apprenticeships are full-time.
So if, as a society, we want to make these opportunities available to all – and if businesses want to increase their chances of hitting their government quotas – developing part-time and flexible apprenticeships is the obvious solution.
That’s why we’ve been working with the Young Women’s Trust, Trust for London and the Learning and Work Institute to investigate how to make apprenticeships an option for people who can’t work full time. We’ve been talking to employers to find out what the barriers and opportunities are, and how we can work together to design roles which are achievable on a part-time basis. And our project partners have had similar conversations with training providers and learners.
Our research has shown, as we suspected, that there are currently very few part-time apprenticeships available; less than one in 10 are contracted for less than 30 hours per week. But it has also shown that it is possible to make them work. So, as is the Timewise way, having worked out what the problem is, we’re now setting out to fix it.
We’re therefore going to be running a new pilot to develop and test models for part-time and flexible apprenticeships. It will be designed and delivered through our Innovation Unit, in partnership with a group of public and private employers, and will start later this year.
Our aim is to deliver innovative solutions that will open up access to skills, better pay and career progression for the millions who need to fit both earning and learning with other life needs. By doing so, we’ll able to help businesses use part-time and flexible apprenticeship models to create more diverse workplaces, reduce gender inequalities and tackle skills shortages.
If you’d like to find out more, or talk to us about how we can be similarly innovative in your own sector, please contact me on info@timewise.co.uk
Published March 2018
As part-time work becomes more widespread, it’s increasingly important that the roles are designed properly. But research published in the journal of Human Relations has indicated that, in many cases, there isn’t a process in place.
One in five professionals and managers in the UK works part-time already, with more than two in five working part-time in the Netherlands. Moreover, there is huge unfulfilled demand for part-time working: a Timewise study shows that a quarter of full-timers in the UK would actually prefer to work less, and earn less.
However when it comes to designing these part-time roles, the employees themselves are often left to get on with it, without input from their employers. Even those who are sympathetic to flexible working in principle rarely take any responsibility for reducing their employees’ outputs to match their reduction in hours.
This failure to think through the requirements of the job means that the part-time professional often ends up delivering 100% of the outputs in 60 or 80% of the hours – and for 60 or 80% of the salary. The result is usually high pressure of work for the part-timer, as well as insufficient time for development, networking or career-building.
And there’s a knock-on effect for other employees too. Seeing the lack of effort to address workload on transition to part-time hours can lead to others being reluctant to request part-time working. They see the stress and unfairness of part-timers having to deliver disproportionately heavy workloads, as well as the negative impacts on their career, and it puts them off following a similar path.
But there is another way: redesign the job collaboratively. Some of the part-time professionals featured in the research negotiated with colleagues, manager and clients to distribute workload more fairly across the team, and to arrange cover during their absence. This ‘crafting’ of the job, in collaboration with colleagues, enabled a more appropriate workload, and predictable time off for part-time professionals, although most only managed to craft their workload and schedule after they had secured a part-time job.
So, employers who want to attract and retain the best talent need to recognise that part-time job design often cannot be done by the individual alone. Job redesign is best done by the team as a whole, with committed support from the wider organisation. If that doesn’t happen, it’s not surprising that part-time professionals often feel stigmatised and see their careers stagnate.
Employers also need to address two common working practices which can stand in the way of successful part-time work. The first is the expectation that the individual, as opposed to the team, will be constantly available to deal with unpredictable client demands. The second is the failure to plan and share the team’s workload collaboratively, so that work is distributed fairly across the team.
It’s clear from the research that the way forward is for employers to redesign the working practices of the whole team, rather than leaving individuals to work out their part-time solutions in isolation. With mounting evidence that more people want to work part-time – not just parents and carers, but also older workers, millennials and those with health issues – employers need to address part-time job design, and adapt working practices to the changing shape of the workforce.
The research was conducted by Dr Charlotte Gascoigne as part of her PhD, and is published with Professor Clare Kelliher from the Cranfield School of Management. The findings were based on in-depth interviews with part-time professionals and managers in both the UK and the Netherlands.
To find out more about the innovative research opportunities we offer, contact info@timewise.co.uk or call 020 7633 4444
Published December 2017
Jobshares are an obvious potential solution when a full-time employee asks to work part-time, yet they’ve never really taken off as a form of flexible working. They can be difficult to set up and sometimes short-lived, so perhaps they’ve always been more popular with employees than with employers.
But quietly, over the last few decades, the civil service has been proving that jobshares can work extremely well. There are currently over 60 very senior level job share partnerships in the civil service and, according to performance indicators, they are every bit as successful as single full-time workers – often more so.
Deborah Brooks and Susie Owen share a top role in the Department for Education – Deputy Director, Early Years Providers and Regulation. Their approach is not to split responsibilities in any way – instead they fully share all aspects of the job, have shared objectives and performance targets, and even a shared mailbox.
The pair say that the trick to a successful jobshare is that the two have to become one person, so that colleagues do not distinguish between them. And in their case it has worked – colleagues refer to them as if they’re one person called ‘Brooks-Owen’!
Brooks-Owen say they have different working styles but the same values. They always support each other’s decisions, picking them up and running with them when it’s their turn in the office.
And Brooks-Owen share something else: a keen determination to make the partnership work, for personal reasons. It matters immensely to both of them, as it’s their shared route to a successful career path whilst achieving work-life balance. They therefore feel they must never let their other half down – and that’s one of the factors contributing to their high performance in the role.
Perhaps most extraordinary is the fact that Brooks-Owen were recruited into their role as a jobshare team (they had previously shared the role of Deputy Director for Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion at the Cabinet Office). They discussed their career aims together, decided which jobs they were both interested in, and applied as a pair.
Unsurprisingly, the interview process was eye-opening – perhaps more so for the interviewers than for Brooks-Owen. They were seen together and also separately, which they agreed was right – after all they work separately for 4 days of the week and are in the office together for only one. But when they were asked to give a presentation separately but on the same topic, they felt they had to contact the interviewers and point out that “You do realise you’ll get the same presentation twice? That’s the way we work.”
The Civil Service is in a good place to lead the way on jobshares – they have a vast workforce, large enough to set-up their own internal jobshare register where employees can find suitable partners. They also have an infrastructure that can support the process – Brooks-Owen, for example, had coaching to help them develop their approach to work; and policies are in place to support managers through the recruitment process for jobshares.
But perhaps, even without these luxuries, other businesses can follow. The only real pre-requisites are that the organisation must believe in jobshares as a way to retain and grow talent; and they must believe in the extra value that a successful jobshare will deliver (higher energy levels through to the end of the week, two brains, continuity through periods of absence etc etc).
Finding potential jobshare partners is much easier than many employers would think. Next time a valued employee asks to work part-time, just try advertising half the role as a part-time job – you’re likely to receive many very high quality applications. It’s a well-kept secret from many employers who only ever advertise full-time jobs: the demand for part-time is immense (27% of the UK workforce works part-time, and they have to compete for only a handful of vacancies).
When interviewing, pay heed to the Brooks-Owen experience: invest extra time in selecting the right candidate. That’s not necessarily the same person as the most skilled candidate – the match with your existing employee needs to be right, exploring shared work values and the ability to adopt a collaborative approach.
Jobshares do require extra effort, but the business rewards can be immense and they are certainly a progressive strategy for developing a skilled workforce. Business interest in jobshares seems to be bubbling up again, so at least remember this: if a jobshare team applies for one of your full-time roles, keep an open mind!
Timewise Jobs has an excellent record for finding high calibre candidates for jobshare roles. Our products and services can be viewed at our recruiter site.
Published November 2016
This research set out to explore what barriers face part-time workers as they attempt to progress their careers. To do this, we conducted interviews with 1000 people working less than 30 hours a week, and earning full time equivalent salaries of more than £20,000 per annum. We found when it comes to part-time and progression: Britain still has far to go.
A step down to part-time
Among the part-time workers interviewed:
The part-time plateau
Many respondents reported reaching a plateau in their career, with the prospect of promotion fading with their reduction in working hours. Among the part-time workers interviewed:
Following this research, Timewise has launched a search for the second Power Part Time list: a roll call of 50 people working at the top of their profession in any way but the standard 9-5. By sharing these leaders’ stories, the list hopes to prove that success and progression in part-time is and should be possible.
Published in 2013
Download full research report
In a bid to give Britain’s part-time executives a voice, this research set out to understand what it’s like to work in a professional part-time job and how working part-time affects office status. We surveyed senior part-time workers and found that the term ‘part-time’ carries a strong stigma, even though the overwhelming majority of respondents hit their targets and are successful in their roles.
Although UK workers are unconvinced that you can work in a senior role on a part-time basis, 650,000 people work in a quality part-time role, earning more than £40,000. Among the senior part-time workers who responded to our survey:
When senior part-time employees were asked what benefits they felt their employers experienced through hiring them on part-time basis, the main responses were:
Juxtaposing the clear successes of part-time working, our findings highlighted hesitation in being recognised as working part-time. Among the senior part-time workers who responded to our survey:
Our research has inspired the Timewise Power Part-time Top 50 awards. The awards hope to bring part-time workers and flexible pioneers out of the shadows, telling really inspirational stories of what can be achieved on a part-time basis. By providing role models, these awards hope to trailblaze a path for future generations who want to work in the best jobs on a part-time basis.
Published in 2012
