You’ve most likely heard the term a million times, especially of late, but some of you may be wondering what it means to work in a flexible role.

It’s our speciality, we recruit for roles that support this way of working and won’t accept anything less for our candidates, so we’ve seen a variety of methods offered by companies to help supply the work/life balance and flexibility modern working families require.

Flexible is the future!

We have a large pool of talented parents, men included, that absolutely need this way of working. Most feel that they’re unable to work due to the inflexibility most roles offer - add this to the growing number of employers we speak to who are in need of finding talented individuals and what’s the solution….Flexible working!

9-2-3 helps businesses tap into this pool of talent. Our candidates are motivated, driven, keen – they WANT to be in the workplace. Research by Workplace Flexibility shows that flexible workers are more engaged – they also have fewer sick days, there’s greater staff retention and increased productivity! The climate is right for 9-2-3!

So what is it?

So we’ve established – I hope – that flexible working is a good thing. Good for both employees and employers. But what is it? It’s not just part-time hours…

Here we list some of the most popular ways of flexible working:

Working from home / Remote working is one of the most popular and productive ways of working flexibly - it avoids the commute to and from the office, better using this time to work. Many employers will offer this one or two days of the working week which allows time for the all-important nativity or sports day and means you can fulfil your working duties at times that suit you and your family.

Flexible hours - It can mean so many things! We speak to businesses who have core offices hours and allow employees to flex at either end of the day. It can even mean that you can do the school run back and forth each day, working in-between these hours and perhaps working additional hours in the evening - making that juggle a little easier.

Compressed hours – If you don’t mind working long days, then this could be the perfect arrangement for you, working all your contracted hours in fewer days. For example, fulfilling full-time hours over 4 days. Some companies are even offering Annualised hours which can really help with the school holiday juggle – allowing employees to work all their hours in term time.

Job sharing - It makes so much sense when you think about it! The business essentially needs a person to do a full-time role, yet they’re unable to fulfil this due to the inflexibility of the hours. So how about hiring two people to share the job? Two brains and two lots of experience in one role. The salary is divided, as well as the hours and we’re seeing this method rise in popularity. If you’re coming along to our NatWest Markets day on June 27th you’ll see this for yourself as we’re lucky enough to have two senior NatWest Markets employees join us to tell us how they make this work. (Why not come and join us for the morning – we still have some tickets left: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-9-2-3-club-at-natwest-markets-tickets-45973658450 )

So the workplace is changing…

It’s not just about mums wanting to have flexible working arrangements. It’s about dads wanting to do a weekly school run. It’s about those who have caring responsibilities for elderly/sick parents. It’s about those wanting to fit in a bit more exercise or healthy cooking or general life! Younger “millennials” are increasingly looking at 9-5 desk jobs as old-fashioned…and we can totally see why.

Flexible working is for everyone.

We’ve explained the most popular ways of flexible working, however, there are so many other ways that this can be implemented within a business, as showcased by insurance giant Aetna…

Aetna

Aetna is a company that uses flexible workspaces to boost its bottom line…

35,000 employees
14,500 do not have a desk
2,000 employees work from home a few days a week
47% of the company’s workforce uses flexible workspaces.

Thanks to these policies, the company has been able to get rid of 2.7 million square feet of office space, giving the company savings of about $78 million per year (once you add utilities, housekeeping, mail service and document shredding). Not to mention a reduced carbon footprint.

Amazing stuff and I feel that it’s only getting better!

Check our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for the latest news of what we’re all up to, as well as our jobs page for the most recent roles.

Friday June 1st celebrates the UN recognised global day of parents. So to us, this is a day where we should all give ourselves a huge pat on the back, Mums, Dads, Grandparents, carers - it's a day to realise all that you manage to achieve with your little ones! WELL DONE!

This is especially true following a half term week...we're all parents too at 9-2-3 and we know that each day doesn't always go to plan...you've booked the time off work, but somehow return back feeling more exhausted than when you turned on your out-of-office!

According to the Office for National Statistics, approximately 57% of all working households in the UK are home to at least one dependent child, aged 15 or under, which makes you realise just how challenging taking time off with little ones can become (let's not even think about the summer holiday break...yet)!

With a growing awareness of flexible working, we hope that 9-5, 5 days a week will soon be a thing of the past. Although it still feels a long way off, more and more companies and employers are beginning to see the first-hand benefits that flexible working can bring to the table. As part of the #fortheloveofflex campaign we've been running, it's clear through our video testimonials from placed candidates and businesses, that flexible working can bring an increase in sales, employee happiness and loyalty.

An article from Human Results showcases some fantastic ways of how companies are implementing this working practice and making it easier to balance work with the never-ending juggle of childcare. Most notably, we have seen brilliant results from some of the large financial companies such as Deloitte and NatWest Markets who are offering returner programmes, all of which offer flexible roles once graduated and heaps of support along the way to ease you back to the workplace.

Shared parental leave has also been a hot topic of conversation - in this article from The Conversation, it highlights that 'Motherhood is the key reason that the gender pay gap exists' and suggests that flexible working is one way to tackle this through allowing Fathers to spend more time with their children, and in effect allow for 'tag-team' parenting when it comes to balancing work and childcare.

As a mum myself with two small children, taking a career break seemed like the only option for me five years ago. Childcare was too expensive and my role at the time was far too inflexible to ensure that the kids were picked up on time and cared for properly. Now that I'm returning to work, it's so refreshing to see flexible work in action and how companies, large and small are making this possible for parents, instead of losing a huge pool of talent from the workforce.

We're happy to see that things are moving in the right direction. We campaign hard for it and persistently educate the business' we work with to implement this way of thinking for the future - we feel it's working so watch this space.

We currently have lots of lovely flexible roles available - take a look at our jobs page for more details and we'd be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have surrounding any of the roles listed.