Flexible working: a nice to have or a must have?
The pandemic in 2020 was a wake up call across the world, businesses and people’s everyday lives.
One of the most prominent aspects was flexible working, an umbrella term that includes remote working, flexible hours, flexible days and more recently spawned hybrid working.
The reality is that it shone a light mostly on remote working due to the lockdowns when many professions (mostly office based ones) found they were, in fact, able to facilitate people working from home without a loss in productivity, because we had the technology.
It’s a situation many employers are still “recovering” from as the world of work realised that remote working was not only possible but also had many benefits for both businesses and employees.
For the past couple of years there have been countless articles, news items, posts and podcasts about how to get people back into the office.
The underlying theme, whilst not explicitly stated, has been that flexible working and therefore remote working are a “nice to have” and now it’s time to get back to the office and get on with work in earnest. Conveniently ignoring the data which shows an increase in productivity when working from home.
From all the learnings of the past two years very few flagged up those for whom flexible working is a “must have”. The most highlighted demographic for flexible working for many years has been parents, mostly working mums.
Yet there are other underrepresented demographics out there for whom flexible working is the difference between remaining in employment or being forced to drop out.
Care-givers
According to CarersUK every day 6,000 people become carers. Prior to the pandemic 1 in 7 employees were caring for loved ones (older, disabled or seriously ill family or friends) alongside juggling paid work. This figure appears to have grown since the pandemic, Employers for Carers report that many employers are stating 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 of their staff now being carers.
Their recent poll found that over the last couple of years 600 people a day gave up work to care for loved ones, that’s 2.6m people who left the workforce. These are termed “unpaid carers” and they contribute to the economy saving the public purse £2.5billion per week in 2015 according to research by University of Sheffield, University of Leeds and CIRCLE, and published by Carers UK (2015).
The peak age range for people becoming carers is 45-64 years old, when they are most valuable, skilled and experienced employees, often in key senior management positions and in the prime of their careers.
Health
Then there are those impacted by health issues for whom the standard sick day policies are not enough to cover their increased medical appointments or daily challenges, physical or otherwise.
The most frequent reasons for sick leave in the UK according to ONS data for 2020 were:
- minor illnesses (26.1%) : includes coughs, colds and flu; sickness, nausea and diarrhoea, and was the biggest single reason for sickness absence over the decade.
- other conditions (17.1%) : includes accidents, poisonings, infectious diseases, skin disorders, diabetes, coronavirus-related illnesses, and anything else not covered. Since April 2020, the coronavirus has accounted for 14.0% of all occurrences of sickness absence.
- musculoskeletal problems (15.4%): which includes back pain, neck and upper limb problems and other musculoskeletal problems, were the second most common reason for sickness absence for most of the decade until coronavirus
- mental health conditions (11.6%)
When you consider that musculoskeletal issues increase with age, you can see that again the over 50s start to become impacted more by health issues, which usually doesn't impact their productivity but could require greater flexibility around working conditions.
Mental health came in at number 4, another scenario where flexibility around work could ease the pressures as well as cater for people requiring mental health breaks.
Older Workers
There was some concern around the great resignation with people quitting their jobs for a better work/life balance and it was believed this would reverse once the pandemic was over.
Over the past few months however, we’ve seen more reports of the over 50s leaving the workforce, for example the recent Guardian article reported that since the start of the pandemic record numbers of over 50s had become economically inactive citing ONS data from Spring 2022. Reasons given included stress, feeling undervalued, disillusionment with work/management. Many Guardian readers responded that caring for loved ones was also a factor. Some felt fulfilled in terms of career goals and therefore had nothing further to aspire to by remaining in work, others reassessed their lives due to long covid or other health issues.
The common theme in all of this is that more middle aged and older people are leaving the workforce. Despite the skills shortage, there is still a lack of truly flexible working jobs, and of the few that are, it is nigh on impossible to find flexible roles for senior positions.
Semi-retirement is another avenue that employers could consider. In a 2022 Canadian survey the majority of employees said they would take semi-retirement, but that most companies don't offer the option.
Consider that the biggest exodus from the workforce appears to be the over 50s.
- when they are in the prime of their careers, full of tacit knowledge, and highly skilled
- which corresponds with the peak age at which they become care-givers
- when they are more likely to develop health issues
- when people start considering winding down for a better work/life balance
- whilst fewer young people are entering the job market
It’s only natural for people, as they grow older to reflect on their mortality and for some this acts as a driver to reassess their lives and legacy. If employers wish to retain this demographic and halt the exodus they will need to compromise on long held, and often unnecessary, office “norms” and evolve.
People with disabilities
Another under-represented group for whom flexible working is a must-have is people with disabilities.
Disabilities cover a whole breadth of conditions and, as described by Meryl Evans, can be permanent, temporary, situational or episodic.
In her post she highlights the importance of inclusive design to expand digital reach. This also applies to inclusive design of employment processes, ways of working and flexible working options for, whilst many people with disabilities can function perfectly well in traditional systems, there will be many for whom accommodations are a must-have.
Women
In a recent global survey by Deloitte which included 500 women from the UK and 5000 women in total across 10 countries, they found that more than half of women surveyed said they’d like to quit over the next two years.
The reasons given included:
- burnout (39%)
- no opportunities to advance (20%)
- poor work/life balance (17%)
Interestingly they found that the greatest proportion of burnout was amongst younger women (58%) and women in ethnic minority groups (51%). Regarding flexible working 95% believed requesting flexible working would impact their career progression, and hybrid working posed challenges in terms of inclusion and microaggressions. The option of hybrid working is a step forward and these results show that teething issues are a work in progress.
Flexible working legislation
Currently in the UK, employees must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks to be eligible to request flexible working. For many of the groups discussed here, this does not help them. Carers, parents, many people with disabilities, and those with medium or long term health issues are not in a position to wait 6 months before they may be considered for flexible working. The proposed UK legislation which pledged employment reforms including a day 1 right to flexible working was delayed earlier this year and it is unclear whether this will progress.
In this post pandemic age we have learned much, reflected on practices that were so ingrained and rigid and found they can be modified for the better. Let’s not forget this in our rush to return to the comfort zone of pre Covid ways.
As the quote says" It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
This quote is as applicable to employers as it is to species.
Blog article by: Zahida Posted: September 2022