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Flex Scrooges: It’s time to step out of the past and embrace the future of work

Published: 14 Dec 2022

A Victorian postcard photo showing two women throwing snowballs at a man in a top hat who is holding up his arm to protect himself.

By Jane van Zyl, Chief Executive, Working Families

The dust hasn’t even settled from the Government’s announcement that employees will have the right to request flexible working from day one on the job. But naysayers like Sir James Dyson are already out in full force. It’s baffling that the clear benefits of flexible working to both business and the economy aren’t apparent to such a brilliant mind as his. So let me sweep away the myths about flexible working and share the good news about pioneering practices of our flexible future. 

I’m Chief Executive of Working Families, the UK’s national charity for working parents and carers. As champions of family friendly and flexible working for more than 40 years, we welcome the new legislation that would make requesting flexible working a day-one right. Far from stifling growth and suffocating creativity, flexibility has the power to unleash potential, spark creativity, and give a boost to productivity. But don’t take my word for it; let’s look at the evidence.

Growth of the economy depends on having a robust labour market. And yet, the number of people leaving the workforce to care for family is rising for the first time in four decades. Like it or not, for people with caring responsibilities, flexibility makes work easier to manage and can make the difference between working and not. Without some form of flexible working—which goes way beyond working from home to include staggered starts, job share, and flexi-time to name a few—there will forever be a portion of society who are effectively locked out of the job market. For those people, they can’t wait for the current six months to request flexible working, because the young, elderly or disabled people who depend on them for care can’t wait that long either. If we truly want to get Britain, and the economy, working again, flex is the answer.

The conflation of flexible working with working from home highlights the limits of the current debate. Flexible working is not simply remote or hybrid working. There are infinite possibilities for how, when, and where tasks are carried out, even if you are a site-based worker. Sir James is right to call out the danger of creating a two-tier system of flex haves and have-nots. This is why we advocate finding flexibility in every role. Flexible working trials by leading construction firm Skanska in conjunction with Timewise shifted the focus onto an outputs model and found that there was no detrimental effect on budget or quality, but they in fact gained weeks in the schedule, which was attributed to better working relationships and collaboration.  

Not only will the new legislation give people the right to request flexible working from the first day of employment, but employers will be duty-bound to consider options before flat-out refusing the request. This is great news for those employees whose employers have refused so far to think beyond the 9-to-5. Even slight adjustments to a working pattern can make all the difference to a parent or carer who is doing the juggle. Flexible working is itself a form of innovation, and problem solving happens when teams work flexibly. Just look at the creative thinking that enabled companies to leap into action and transform their ways of working overnight during the pandemic.

Sir James’s concerns around the lack of in-person collaboration impacting on the ability to succeed are simply unfounded. In fact, a study by Cisco UK points to flexible working enhancing creativity. Innovation doesn’t have to happen within the same four walls. Having the physical and mental space to reflect and increasing sources of inspiration can help the creative process, and working to your own natural peak times can improve productivity.

Productivity and flexibility go hand in hand. Recent research shows that most managers perceive flexible working to increase productivity (71%) and see it as a performance enhancing tool (63%). When flexible working has been subject to regulated trial, such as the four-day week, it has produced persuasive results – with 95% of employers reporting that productivity had stayed the same or improved during the shorter week. In our own Benchmark report, employers who have flexible working practices in place reported a 50% increase in productivity in the past year.

The employers we work with are a testament to the fact that organisations that invest in flexible working are reaping massive rewards. Take SF Recruitment, a small enterprise based in the Midlands, which has seen 34% growth in income and 96% growth in profit in the past 12 months since introducing flexible working during the pandemic. Or the North East London NHS Foundation Trust which saw a 50% reduction in the number of staff leaving the organisation to care for adult dependants in the past year due to the introduction of flexible working.  

Being globally competitive requires capitalising on the best talent available. Yet our research shows that 3 in 10 UK parents are currently working in jobs below their skill level because their jobs offer greater flexibility. This is bad news for both employees who feel they have to sacrifice progression in exchange for flexibility and for employers who are letting talent go to waste. Why are experienced, skilled people forced to work below their potential for the sake of sticking to ‘the way it’s always been done’, especially when there are solutions available to us?

As well as the costs involved in recruiting and onboarding new staff, keeping hold of talent is also a major concern for businesses in these tumultuous times. Our recent research with YouGov shows that over half of mothers and fathers in the UK would be likely to consider leaving their job if they found another one that offered more flexible options. But it’s not just parents who want flexibility; 92% of young people want to work flexibly. The dial on flexible working has already shifted. The offer of flexibility means businesses can stay competitive to attract more talent and not risk losing the talent they have. 

As the ‘great resignation’ has shown, working people have a limit. Amongst the million that left the labour market, those who were financially able found themselves reassessing their priorities during the pandemic and deciding that they had had enough of the daily grind. Huge talent was lost, and all because—in too many cases—there didn’t appear to be another way of being able to mesh together work and life.  

If the sway of a happier, more committed and productive workforce isn’t enough, let’s take a look at the cold, hard cash. The Flexonomics report found that flexible working already contributes £374 million in income tax and National Insurance contributions above what the tax receipts would have been without flex. Current levels of flexible work deliver £37 billion-a-year to the UK economy, which could rise to £55 billion if flexible working was increased by 50%. The small business minister Kevin Hollinrake was indeed on the money when he said it was a ‘no brainer’.

Whilst there is an abundance of evidence to suggest that flexibility is good for people and good for business, I would be remiss to not talk about the contributions flexibility makes to social justice. Other so-called ambitious countries may be able to exploit cheaper labour that works longer, but at what human cost? Offering flexibility enables more women to enter and progress within the labour market, helping to tackle gender inequality. It can support the levelling up agenda, thereby addressing regional inequality. And flexibility reduces prohibitively expensive travel and childcare costs. In a cost-of-living crisis, that means that those who are in desperate need of additional income can earn it.  

Let’s face it, the dark ages of inflexible work are behind us. The moves towards flexibility by default are cause for celebration. We can look forward to boosts in productivity, strengthened staff retention, and a more resilient labour market. Naysayers like Sir James could soon lose their competitive edge and see employees voting with their feet. Employers that are willing to challenge old ways of thinking by prioritising flexible working are showing how work can be done differently—and better—and hold the key to a more prosperous future for us all.  

For employers – we can help you implement more family-friendly flexible workplaces!

For employees – we can help you with requesting more flexible working, and with problems you may encounter at work.