There’s been a rise in flexible working patterns over recent years and employees and employers often find a traditional 9-5 office-based role doesn’t suit businesses today. This is particularly pertinent for women who may want to return to work part-time after having children and for employers who want to tap into their experience and expertise.
The law says that all employees have the right to request flexible working, and this includes working mothers. The only stipulation is that “employees must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks to be eligible”. It’s called making a “statutory application” and the procedure for doing so is set out on the UK Gov.UK website. Employers have a responsibility to deal with the request in a “reasonable manner”.
Benefits of flexible working for employers and staff
Flexible working has many advantages and according to the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), around 94% of all UK organisations now offer their staff some form of flexible working. This might include working different hours, working from home or elsewhere offsite, job sharing and part-time hours.
Some of the benefits of flexible working include:
- Employee retention: it’s been proven that flexible working is a popular work benefit and as a result, employees stay working longer at an organisation and work harder
- Productivity: it’s also been shown that those working on flexible hours are less likely to phone in sick or resign. Flexible workers feel less stressed and as a result are more loyal to their employer
- Attractive work benefit: when employers are recruiting potential candidates, it’s been shown that job descriptions that include flexible hours are viewed as more attractive to candidates who will opt for positions with this benefit
- Work/life balance for parents: for parents with small children having flexible working hours enables them to balance their family commitments with their work lives. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) highlighted that “The employment rate for mothers was 75.0% in April to June 2019”.
According to a workingmums.co.uk survey, “People who work from home at least some of the week are much more likely to feel happy with the amount of flexible working they have and less likely to have had to take time off for mental health issues”.
At Artemis Clarke we practice flexible working ourselves and find staff are more motivated to go the extra mile when we can give them some freedom over their working day.
There’s also been a lot of talk recently about the prospect of a 4-day working week, with mixed results for some firms. Last year, Microsoft was in the news for allowing its employees in Japan to work a 4-day work week throughout August with the result that productivity increased by 40%.
Get in touch
At Artemis Clarke we are able to recruit for part-time and flexible working roles which may suit the employer and candidate better than the traditional fixed hours options. This can allow employers to tap into talented candidates who may otherwise be unavailable to them.
Find out how our specialist finance recruitment team can help ensure your business planning and finance needs are met with our permanent, interim and part-time finance staff. Get in touch today for an initial consultation.
