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Is the 9 to 5 working day history? Flexible working is in demand

Written by Daniel Goddard | Jul 7, 2021 7:45:02 AM

Is the 9 to 5 working day history? Flexible working is in demand

Is the 9 to 5 working day history? Flexible working is in demand - Guest Blog by Jenny King, HR Consultant at Iroko Consulting, a specialist HR consultancy for membership, association and not for profit organisations.

9 in 10 people in the UK now want to work flexibly according to recent research. Demand spans both gender and generations driven by a variety of personal reasons. The option to flex is fast becoming an expectation from prospective employees rather than a nice to have.

Flexible working is becoming essential as part of candidate attraction strategies any employer that wants to be truly competitive needs to have flexible working as standard.

54% of UK workers are already working flexibly in some way and more than half the workforce (55%) would like to work flexibly in at least one form that is not currently available to them. (CIPD, 2019)

Build in flexibility from the start

Advertising flexible work options upfront can help boost candidate attraction, from compressed hours to job shares and/or alternate locations. Be clear about which roles can be done flexibly.  A simple role assessment can help managers think about what’s possible right at the start.

  1. Time  - how many hours are needed to carry out the job. Is this a full-time role, a more than full-time role or a part-time one?
  1. Location  - where do the activities need to be carried out?
  2. When - what activities have to be done when?
  3. Consider role’s dependencies
  4. team jobs
  5. project based
  6. supervisory
  7. client facing
  8. process driven

‘There is not as much acceptance around men [working flexibly] and men themselves will often be in denial. I’ve known men who will pretend to be going to a meeting. Actually they are going to pick the kids up.’ CIPD 2019

Read full article https://irokoconsulting.com/2019/07/08/is-the-9-to-5-office-day-history-flexible-working-not-just-a-fad/

Twitter @IrokoHR

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-king-hrconsultancy