#whereskat competition - terms and conditions

Thank you for entering our exciting competition. Please check below for the terms and conditions relating to this. Please note that by entering this contest, you agree to a complete release of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram from all liability in connection with this competition.

    1. How to Enter

1.1. Facebook - To join in the competition on Facebook, entrants will need to like AND comment on a photo posted via 9-2-3 Jobs of our colleague Kat. She’s been photographed at numerous landmarks in and around Manchester and Greater Manchester and you have to guess where she is by liking and commenting on the post with your answer, using the hashtag #whereskat to enter the competition.

1.2. Twitter - To join in the competition on Twitter, entrants will need to ReTweet a photo posted via 9-2-3 Jobs of our colleague Kat. She’s been photographed at numerous landmarks in and around Manchester and Greater Manchester and you have to guess where she is by liking and ReTweeting with comment on the post with your answer, as well as using the hashtag #whereskat to enter the competition.

1.3. Instagram - To join in the competition on Instagram, entrants will need to like AND comment on a photo posted via 9-2-3 Jobs of our colleague Kat. She’s been photographed at numerous landmarks in and around Manchester and Greater Manchester and you have to guess where she is by liking and commenting on the post with your answer, using the hashtag #whereskat to enter the competition.

1.4. One winner who has guessed the correct answer will be chosen at random over all three platforms – entrants can enter the competition more than once and comment on any of the photo’s we post over the two week period.

1.4. The winner will be announced on Monday 5th November 2018 on 9-2-3 Jobs Facebook, Instagram and Twitter social media channels.

    2. When to Enter and Who can Enter

2.1. The Competition opens on Monday 22nd October and closes Sunday 4th November 2018

2.2. Entrants can enter at any point between these dates

2.3. Entrants can enter the Competition as many times as they would like, across any of the platforms to be in with a chance of winning. 

2.4. The Competition is only open to UK residents aged 21 or over, excluding employees of 9-2-3 Jobs and anyone professionally connected with the administration of the Competition.

2.5 Automated or bulk entries from third parties will be disqualified.

2.6 We reserve the right to exclude serial competition entrants who have entered more than 4 competitions in the last month

    3. Prizes

3.1. The prizes for winning the competition will be one hours free coaching from Power of the Parent  - coaching and talent consultancy services

3.2. The prize winner will be invited to share their story of why they entered the competition, which will be shared on both Facebook, Instagram and Twitter platforms.

3.3. The prize is as stated and they cannot be sold or exchanged for cash, goods or services. The winners details will be passed on to Power of the Parent  - coaching and talent consultancy services who will then make contact with the winner to make the arrangements.

    4. Data Protection and Publicity

4.1. You consent to your surname, photograph and basic information about you being disclosed on 9-2-3 Jobs channels or other media if you win any Prizes under the Competition

4.2. Any personal data relating to participants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. By entering the Competition, you agree that 9-2-3 Jobs may contact you in relation to the Competition

4.3. Competition winners will be contacted by 9-2-3 Jobs. You must provide accurate contact details on notification.

4.4. 9-2-3 Jobs reserve the right to use the voice, image, photograph, name and likeness of the winners for publicity and in advertising, marketing or promotional material without additional compensation or prior notice to the winners. In entering the Competition, all participants consent to such use of their voice, image, photograph, name and likeness

    5. Competition Rules

5.1. The Competition will be run as a sweepstake draw and a prize will be awarded at random by 9-2-3 Jobs for one entrant.

5.2. We reserve the right to change the Competition rules and these Terms and Conditions from time to time. If we do so, we will always have the most up to date terms and conditions on the Website and in the case of a discrepancy between these terms and conditions and those on the Website, the Website terms and conditions will apply. Your continued use of the website will constitute your acceptance of the new rules and/or Terms and Conditions

5.3. All intellectual property rights in the images and materials on the Website, and used in the services provided by 9-2-3 Jobs and no person may make any use of them without 9-2-3 Jobs express permission.

    6. Liability and Indemnities

6.1. Except in the case of death or personal injury arising from its negligence, or in respect of fraud, and so far as is permitted by law, 9-2-3 Jobs and its associated companies and agents and distributors exclude responsibility and all liabilities, whether direct or indirect, arising from:

6.1.1. any postponement or cancellation of the Competition;

6.1.2. any changes to, the supply of or use of the Prize; and

6.1.3. any act or default of any supplier, which are beyond 9-2-3 Jobs’ reasonable control.

6.2. 9-2-3 Jobs does not accept responsibility for any liability arising from technical incompatibility, problems relating to the internet, or technical difficulties of any kind

6.3. 9-2-3 Jobs shall not be liable, whether in tort, contract, misrepresentation or otherwise for loss of profits, loss of anticipated savings, loss of goods, loss of use, loss or corruption of data or information, or any special, indirect, consequential or pure economic loss, costs, damages, charges or expenses

6.4. You agree to indemnify 9-2-3 Jobs against all liabilities, claims and expenses that may arise from any breach of your agreement with 9-2-3 Jobs

    7. Jurisdiction

7.1. The Competition and these Terms and Conditions are governed by English Law. England & Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with these Terms and Conditions.

So what is flexible working anyway?

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.

Global Day of Parents

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.

#LetsAllFlexTogetherDay Launch!

The hashtag says it all, lets ALL flex together day is a chance for us to celebrate two things;

• The love of flexible working

• And the 1st birthday of the 9-2-3 Club!

So what better way to commemorate the birth of our unique networking Club by bringing people and business together to give flexible working a go, for one day and see the benefits unfold.

By flexible work we mean a few things:

• Flexible hours - so logging on between school drop-offs i.e. 9am-3pm, or even finish off work at home when the kids are in bed

• Remote/ home working

• Part-time hours - for example, 2/3 days a week, of five hours, five times a week

• Something simple like working through your lunch hour so that you can leave an hour earlier

Just recently, the Financial Times shared an article about a firm that had initiated a 5-hour work week, they ditched the 9-5 and said it was ‘life-changing’ for the business with fewer sick days and record levels of new business. It highlighted two brilliant things, that firms are willing to shake things up and give this a go and that flexible working actually can and does work.

So how can you join in?

Celebrate with us ONLINE:

Employees

If flexible working isn’t on the table in your current job then this is the perfect opportunity to ask them to give flex a go, just for one day and let them see how productive you can be - show them the benefits through the articles we’ll be posting and prove that you can get exactly the same work done (or more), whether this is at home or through flexible hours and perhaps this could help reassure them that this is future-proof - fight for it, it makes complete sense.

Employers

We understand that this is a complete break from the normal 9-5, it may send heads into orbit but this is just one day out of the year for your employees to prove to you how this can work for you as a business. Flexible working is known to encourage employee productivity, improve happiness, so we’re asking you to give flex a go on the 12th September, 2018.

What you need to do:

• Lets ALL flex together on the 12th September and shout about it by using our hashtag #LetsAllFlexTogetherDay

• Let us KNOW about it - post your photo’s to our page, wherever you’re working, whatever time you’re working, join in and engage!

• Tag yourselves and your businesses if you’re working flexibly that day.

We want everyone to know just how great flexible working really is!

Come and celebrate with us in person!

As well as joining our online community, you can come and celebrate with us in person at Unipart's HQ in Oxford (more details to come soon).

We’re planning a great day with some great speakers and as well as all flexing together, we’ll be celebrating the 9-2-3 Club’s birthday!

The 9-2-3 Club was launched 12th September 2017 in Westminster (check us out here), we had a fantastic day launching the club with some great attendees and speakers and we plan to do the same this year, looking at how far the Club has come and how it’s grown with the fab networking events we’ve had the chance to deliver.

The Club has given us a great opportunity to meet fantastic people and business’ and the feedback we commonly get from Club attendees is overwhelmingly supportive, that’s why we want to celebrate with as many of you as we can on the 12th September.

We hope to see you there and for those who can’t, we want to see you ONLINE so we can all flex together and celebrate!

Keep an eye our Facebook and Twitter page as we release more details about the upcoming day!

 

#LetsAllFlexTogetherDay

 

My Visit To Denman College with The 9-2-3 Club

By Jenna Doran

On the 22nd January I took my first step back into the networking circle and attended an event at the stunning Denman College, hosted by 9-2-3 Jobs.

I'm lucky enough to be working with Helen and Lucy at 9-2-3 Jobs having started a social media management training course with Digital Mums and as soon as Helen mentioned the event to me, I immediately knew that I wanted to attend.

This was a great opportunity for a mum like me after being out of work for five years, to get back into the swing of things (not just me but my brain too) and use my voice to have an impact on a fab fundraising campaign, instead of disarming my toddler from her usual tantrum!

The nerves had started the night before, would I embarrass myself? Say the wrong thing? Was I ready? What do I wear? However, upon arriving, all of these questions were brushed aside. Helen was the first lady I met that day and work aside, I quickly realised that Helen was a mum too and since setting up in 2015 has realised a wonderful initiative through her job agency, helping parents back into the workplace with flexible working arrangements putting their skills to work for the benefit of businesses and themselves, whilst still being able to do the school run. 

Why is it taking businesses so long to catch on to this? I'll never know... but I hope that there is enough momentum this year (and I do believe there is), for them to sit up and take note.

Denman College is a truly amazing hub of creativity, offering members and non-members of the Women's Institute a haven of activity to explore their own talents and socialise with friends. It just has to be the next venue for GBBO with its stunning grounds and cookery school which we were lucky enough to be given a tour of by Ruba and her team.

It's reassuring, once armed with a (child-free) cup of tea and a room full of other like-minded mums, that you really do have so much in common. All have had some kind of career break for one reason or another and are looking to be creative again with their talents. Most mums were feeling exactly like me on the morning leading up to the event but all now felt relaxed and comfortable as the event unfolded. 

Having sampled some delicious homemade WI shortbread, we sat down to an introduction from Helen, who reinforced the value of attending events such as these. I wholeheartedly agreed - looking around and talking to the women there, it was obvious we had a wonderful room full of talented individuals and not all of it was being put to its best use in the workplace. Having said that, there were women there who ran their own businesses and it was great to hear their stories, their ideas and their passion to help mothers back into the world of work.

After a short presentation from Ruba about the fundraising campaign for Denman College, we quickly got into some work sharing ideas and working together as a team to present back to the room. Yes, the nerves suddenly shot back into my stomach when having to do this, but the realisation that we were all pretty much in the same boat reassured me. 

After leaving Denman, with some great contacts I may add, it became abundantly clear that the day wasn't just about solving some problems and suggesting ideas for a campaign, it was about bringing women together, unleashing that voice and talent that may have been under-used for some time and giving attendees hope for their potential (and flexible) career in the near future.

Helen and Lucy at 9-2-3 Jobs do a marvellous job and should be applauded for thinking outside the box on this and enabling events such as this to happen.

I can't wait for the next one!

Flexible Working - A Future For All

With flexible working set to become the norm over the next few years, a growing number of employers now embrace this concept and accept that addressing the flexible working gap is a path to attaining a more productive working environment for employees and employer alike.

In a survey of Managers by the Institute of Leadership & Management, 82% think offering flexible working is beneficial to their businesses – with improvements in productivity, commitment and retention.

Figures show there are over 427,000 female professionals looking to return to work following a career break. Price Waterhouse Coopers believe that addressing the career break penalty could deliver gains of up to £1.7 billion to the UK economy alone.  (https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics-policy/insights/women-returners.html). 

A number of market leaders, including PwC, Vodafone & JP Morgan, have been looking at ways to encourage women back to work after extended career breaks.  The outcome of one of these projects has been to introduce “Returnship” programmes in various forms, providing “an effective route back to professional roles, with transitional support to upskill and regain professional self-belief”.

At least 76% of women not currently working want to return to work at some stage with a large number of these looking for flexible working in the guise of either reduced/compressed hours or the ability to work from home for at least some of the time. (PwC/Women Returners)

Organisations are beginning to look at how to attract these talented candidates to fill their vacant roles and by offering flexible working to these prospective employees, they can create a positive outcome for both parties:

Here at 9-2-3 we specialise in finding flexible jobs for professional people.  Educating our clients in how offering flexible working will provide benefits for their businesses:

·         According to 76% of businesses questioned for a recent CIPD report, Flexible working improves staff retention

·         Higher Productivity (83% businesses reported higher productivity – Vodafone 2016)

·         Increased Profits (61% saw a rise in profits – Vodafone 2016)

·         Fewer Sick days (A recent survey by Unison showed that sickness reduced from 12% to 2% amongst those that worked flexibly. https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2014/09/On-line-Catalogue225422.pdf

We find highly skilled candidates for roles, looking at how flexible working can be provided to meet both the client and candidate needs. We are currently developing a 5 point back to work programme of our own for women returning to work after a career break.  Our programme offers participants the opportunity to take 5 different elements of coaching including: technology, career, confidence, mindfulness and presentation, enabling participants to return to workplace, fully prepared and confident in their ability to kickstart their career again.

In September 2017, a survey was carried out on behalf of 9-2-3, which found that 3 in 4 workers believe we will all be working flexibly within 5 years. The survey also showed that flexibility was the most important factor when selecting a job (along with pay and location – and ahead of the benefits package and career prospects). 

The next time you are looking to recruit, think about how you can make the role flexible and engage a whole group of professionals who are waiting to add value to your company.

To coin a phrase - The future is bright, the future is flexible.

9-2-3 RESEARCH: 1,002 male and female office workers in the UK were questioned (Sept 2017):