FOCUS: The future is flexi

Friday 30 July 2021

Four-day weeks, flexible working hours, remote working… these concepts used to be reserved solely for the very few, but after two lockdowns forced entire industries to work from home, it has become a very real possibility for many office workers.

Not only are numerous office-based businesses offering flexible hours and remote working, but people are also listing these requirements as a top priority when searching for work.

“A strong work-life balance is important to most people nowadays, and flexibility in working hours for child or pet care or personal pursuit reasons is definitely high on the list of many candidates,” said Melissa Campbell, Managing Director at recruitment firm Situations.

“In the first and second lockdowns people got used to working from home, fitting life in around working hours and dealing with homeschooling or general home chores in the daytime then making up that lost work time in early mornings or evenings, to suit them.  

“It can be a much more flexible working environment which suits some people better than being in the office from 9-5 daily,” she said.

Pictured: Express found that many firms are more open to flexible working hours following the pandemic. 

These ideas needed to be tested, and covid forced the hand of many firms who may’ve been unconvinced that remote working was viable. It also gave people a taste of what life could be like beyond the usual nine-to-five.

“Lockdown led to a lot of people to turn around and go ‘I don’t need to be doing this’,” said Fiona Wright, the Associate Director at Leapfrog Limited.

“Some people find they don’t need to be doing 40/50 hour weeks, they want to be doing 25/30 – I’ve seen a lot of candidates come through who have decided to take that flexibility.”

The realm of flexible working seems to sit mainly within finance at the moment. Ms Wright added: “with a lot of these international finance companies, they find that they can get the job done at home."

Pictured: “Four day weeks are the way to go, everybody wants them,” said Ms Wright.

One such firm is BDO Limited, an accounting and advisory firm that took the plunge and delivered a flexible working policy across its work force.

“We’ve got 80% of our staff signed up to flexible working on an ad-hoc basis,” said the Managing Director, Richard Searle.

“People appreciate that flexibility, we’ve seen it with applicants for jobs and we’ve seen it within our existing staff – not having to jump in a car or on a bike to commute every day is very welcome.”

BDO utilises a hybrid model, allowing people to work remotely as much as they want, as long as they meet the needs of the job role. Mr Searle argues that the case for flexible and remote working has benefits for the community too.

“Through our policy we’ve reduced our carbon footprint, we’ve reduced travel to and from work by about 40%,” he said.

Pictured: “There’s definitely a shift towards flexible working, we know you can do a good portion of your work effectively remotely,” said Mr Searle.

Deloitte is an audit and tax consultancy firm who’re also exploring how a hybrid model could work.

People and Purpose Partner, Marc Cleeve, said: “The hybrid approach, Deloitte Works, is aimed at keeping the flexibility of remote working, without losing the opportunities for collaboration that we need to make a difference for our clients, our people and for society.

“This approach offers our people choice of when, were and how they work.

"The needs and lifestyles of our colleagues in the four offices will all be different, but we trust them to deliver their best work in a way that works for them and our clients."

"The pandemic has demonstrated to even the most sceptical CEOs that people can remain productive at home"

Express also heard from Phil Eyre, Founder of Leaders Consultancy, who said there are numerous benefits to both the employer and employee when flexible working becomes a possibility.

"The idea of flexible working is not a new one. Research over the last 15 years has demonstrated that flexibility contributes significantly to employee engagement.

"The pandemic has required people to work from home wherever possible, demonstrating to even the most sceptical CEOs that people can remain productive and are often more so when provided with the tools and environment to work flexibly," he said.

"Flexible working is an excellent way to convey trust to your people. In fact, trust is the only way in which flexible working is effective." 

Clearly these changes to the working day are only viable in office-based workplaces, but the flexible working day may soon be a reality to many people in the Bailiwick.

“I struggle to see how people will go back to an entirely office-based arrangement, we’ve had a taster now,” concluded Mr Searle.