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Flexible working as future proofing
- 1. Flexible working As futureproofing Lee Allen Sales Director
- 2. Identifying trends tofuture-proof against What is future proofing? • Being prepared for challenges. • Happy people = Better results
- 3. Flexible working asfuture proofing 14 million Britons want flexible working • That’s 42% of the working population… Jobsite research finds that HR decision makers rate flexible working as the most important benefit they offer, with 45% of staff wanting flexibility • Yet only 6.2% of vacancies mention flexible working.
- 4. But what isflexible working? Flexible • Allows an employee to set alternative working hours. • Able to change hours with notice to fit other parts of their lives. • Employees work the same amount of hours as usual, just at different times. Remote • An employee not based in an office. • Works the same hours as their colleagues. • Can be based nearby for office visits, can be based anywhere in the world. Part-time • Others include: Staggered hours, compressed hours, shift swapping, self rostering, term-time working, annual hours and V-time working. • Any combination of these can be used to make the ideal working pattern for an employee.
- 5. Flexible working asfuture proofing 1. Increased productivity Telecommuters twice as likely to work over 40hrs a week. 2. Lower overheads Working from home half of the time could save an average of £11,000 a year. 3. Higher retention rates • 76% loyalty increase in employees who work from home. • 25% reporting lower stress levels. • 73% saying they eat healthier while at home. • 80% indicating they had a better work-life balance. 4. Fewer sick days • 78% of sick day takers aren’t really ill – they are stressed or have family issues. • Telecommuters typically work when they are ill.
- 6. The challenges offlexible working 1. Communication With employees empowered to work at different times and in different places, you need to make sure effective communication is maintained. 2. Accountability Out of sight and out of mind is an attitude that can easily slip in if a remote workforce is not well managed. 3. Finding the line The definition of flexibility can vary from employer to employee. Make sure that all parties are on the same page to minimise dissatisfaction.
- 7. Flexible vs thegig economy
- 8. Flexible vs thegig economy Gig workers in the UK currently account for: • That’s Over 1 million workers. • A disproportionate amount of young, creative professionals. • A growth in self-employment at odds with the rest of the world.
- 9. Flexible vs thegig economy Flexible: • Engaged, loyal employees • Lower stress levels than avg • Help lower overheads • Feel valued by a company • Good PR “The justification from employers when called out on their failure to provide employment rights always comes down to the same thing: these workers want flexibility and their model provides this.” - Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) Gig economy: • Freelancers looking for next gig • Constantly under pressure • High churn • No job security • Bad PR
- 10. Implementing flexi into your HR strategy “An important part of adding flexible working to your HR strategy is remembering to set goals for your employees. Help them challenge themselves to get the best out of this arrangement. There’s a balance to find between flexibility and structure. Once you’ve found the right combination there will be benefits to your staff retention, engagement and happiness. The potential for saving cash while improving key HR metrics makes flexible working an unmissable opportunity.” - David Clift, HR Director StepStone UK
- 11. Implementing flexi into your HR strategy Implementation checklist: 1. Secure the commitment of top management 2. Draw up a profile of the existing workforce and their current hours 3. Take cultural issues into account 4. Decide the extent of flexibility to be introduced 5. Consult with employees 6. Consider appointing a working group to manage implementation 7. Work out the details 8. Communicate the policies to all staff 9. Identify a co-ordinator 10. Provide training in implementing flexible working arrangements 11. Evaluate the scheme
- 12. Flexible working andthe law • Who has the right to request flexible working? • What do you have to do about it? • Regulations around hours, rest break and working week rules are the same for a remote worker, so recap these when building a flexible strategy.
- 13. What kind oftalent does flexi help access? • Over 1 million gig economy workers in all kinds of disciplines • 14 million Britons who desire flexible working • 18.9 million families with childcare commitments • 6.9 million disabled people of working age • 700,000 people with autism who may benefit from increased control over their working environment
- 14. Using Flexibility tocapture engaged talent Will Hawes – was able to continue working while his wife was seriously ill, as well as taking on childcare responsibilities and looking after her.
- 15. We can dobetter!
Editor's Notes
- #3 Stress the importance of listening to your employees – find out what they want from their employment to then provide it, creating job satisfaction. Future-proofing only works if you correctly identify what’s going to have an impact on your business. Get the “collect feedback” stage right – listen to the people who are impacted by an issue – and you can majorly boost happiness as well as performance.
- #4 We’ve been offering flexible working at Jobsite for over 6 years, and so I’d like to share with you a bit about our experiences of it, and how this is an employee benefit with the potential to hugely benefit the employer as well. Even satisfied staff can have plans to leave an organisation. Identifying the benefits they really want can help increase retention. 39% of staff in our survey said they would take an average of 4.7% salary sacrifice in return for flexible working. This is something people are serious about having as part of their lives. (Jobsite surveyed 1000 full time workers and 500+ HR decision makers.) https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/global/Talent/global-talent-hr-trends-infographic-2016-mercer.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/22/rights-gig-economy-self-employed-worker http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connect/small-business/flexible-working-path-to-wellbeing-not-escape-route/
- #5 Flexible means having the ability to agree changes to standard working hours with your employer. This can cover things like arranging one day a week where you need to start and leave early for childcare commitments. It can also help you deal with the unexpected – this is key to how it helps reduce employee stress. Knowing you are at liberty to rearrange your working pattern to deal with any unexpected issues is very valuable! Remote means that your employee works off-site on a day-to-day basis. Employers can agree a schedule for when the employee needs to show their face in the office, but this is best left to judgement and actual need. Creating an arbitrary schedule will reduce the trust that is core to why this arrangement is valuable. You can open your talent pool to the whole world with remote working. Part time is one we’re all familiar with – but consider that you could potentially have a great employee working for you more than they currently are by using the above options.
- #6 These are the core benefits of flexible working. They all contribute to helping build a happier, healthier and better engaged workforce. http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/resources/costs-benefits https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235285
- #7 There are pitfalls to flexible working too. Communication is key to any organisation and it’s even more important to focus on for a workforce that is spread out both in location and working hours. There are a host of great online tools for communicating, collaborating and keeping on top of workloads, but if your team is in commutable distance, meeting in person is unbeatable. A quick phone call also shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s an old fashioned view that working from home means slacking off, but there is some truth to the fact that it can lead to low productivity if not managed correctly. Accountability is something that can fall in to the background if goals are not clearly communicated. Talk about maternity returner example for point 3. Returned, asked for something that wasn’t possible, alternative was offered and a solution that suited all parties was found.
- #8 To understand what flexible working is, let’s talk a bit about what it is not. Who knows what the gig economy is? High profile examples include Uber, Deliveroo… Why do people go for these roles? As we saw earlier, people want flexible, and this is currently one of the only routes that offer it. But it’s a false promise in this iteration…
- #9 It’s not just taxi drivers and couriers though. People are turning to unconventional employment and going it alone to find the benefits they want. But this is a dangerous model. The removal of job security greatly diminishes the benefits we’ve talked about previously. https://fullfact.org/economy/whos-working-gig-economy/
- #10 This quote is from an article about the rights of gig economy workers and how the current model is flawed. The gig economy is a symptom of supply not meeting demand. The talent pool is being reduced as workers leave to find what they need. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/22/rights-gig-economy-self-employed-worker
- #11 So how can you fold flexi in to your organisation and begin attracting more talent? Goals are really important here.
- #12 We don’t need to run through all of this, but one of the key elements to pull out here is number 8… Clear communication of a flexible working policy is key. It reduces uncertainty and it’s important to let everyone know they’re on a level playing field and have the same opportunities to utilise the scheme. The second point on the list is an important one if you want to measure the before/after impact of this system. https://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Appius/Submissions/CHK-026-An_introduction_to_implementing_flexible_working_hours.pdf
- #13 Every one of your employees can request flexible working – whether it’s someone returning from maternity leave or someone who’s had a change in circumstances. You have to deal with requests in a reasonable manner. Assess the advantages/disadvantages, hold a meeting with the employee who made the request and offer an appeals process. You can be taken to an employment tribunal if you don’t handle this request correctly, so read the full guide available on gov.uk. Link back to your example with maternity, or Amy who came back on a part time, 3 full time days basis. https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/hours-rest-breaks-and-working-week https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/types-flexible-working https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/know-your-rights-when-you-go-back-to-work-after-having-a-baby#flexible-working https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/overview
- #14 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2016 http://www.dlf.org.uk/content/key-facts http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/myths-facts-stats.aspx
- #16 This is the current levels of flexibility offered broken down by industry. Given the potential we can see offering this benefit has for both employee and employer, it’s clear that we can all do more to make flexible working a reality. https://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2015/jun/09/british-workers-flexible-working-only-6-percent-job-ads-offer#img-2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-business/11659844/Flexible-working-14-million-Britons-compete-for-a-handful-of-jobs.html