A flexible working future — the opportunities and challenges
Our working lives and the future of work
We are in times of significant change, living in a context that has been described as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The drivers of change in work today certainly include the extraordinary developments of artificial intelligence, technology and automation, but we are also seeing significant political, social and demographic change impacting our workforces and workplaces.
Organisations and even whole industry sectors are having to rapidly adapt. New competitors and new business models are emerging, consumers’ demands and expectations are rising, but so are societal expectations for responsible and more transparent businesses. Our workforces are increasingly diverse, with many different needs and demands. People expect to be treated respectfully and fairly, to have choice and for their voices to be heard, and to work for managers and organisations that care about them.
Technology is enabling so much more choice and options in where and how we work, and how we can work smarter and be more productive. But the hours and demands of work and the challenges of balancing work with the rest of our lives are contributing more and more to the growing levels of stress, and the huge societal issues of mental health and poor wellbeing. For a number of years now surveys such as those by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) have shown how stress has become the biggest source of long term absenteeism from work,1 and workload or volume of work is the most frequently cited cause.
Yet our working patterns and norms, which have governed our ways of working for many decades, remain very familiar. The standard five day working week is deeply embedded in our cultures and define our rhythm of life. We all know songs that describe it — Dolly Parton’s 1980 hit ‘9 to 5’, or Sheena Easton’s 1981 hit ‘Morning Train (Nine to Five)’ being catchy examples. Across all of the more developed nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only around 17% of the workforce works other than what is usually described as a ‘standard’ full time job.2
Rather than reducing our hours of work, in more recent years the phenomenon of presenteeism where employees still come to work even when not fully well appears to be growing. As technology allows us to keep connected to work more of the time, the idea of presenteeism is extending to also mean working more hours than needed to fulfil work commitments. In all these cases, employees are prioritising being present over their health and wellbeing, driven by employees worrying about the security of their employment or feeling they have to prove their commitment to work. The CIPD and Sim-plyhealth’s regular survey on health and wellbeing at work in 2018 reported that presenteeism had more than tripled since 2010.3
The case for more flexible working
Not only are these working hours and pressures not good for our overall wellbeing, they also impact productivity — an issue at the heart of a lot of economic debate and a key business imperative. Higher productivity is an outcome of positive physical and mental wellbeing. Something that Henry Ford understood, and demonstrated, when in 1926 he reduced working hours to eight hours per day and five days a week and increased basic pay at the Ford Motor Company. This became one of the pivotal points in the institutionalisation of the five-day, eight-hours-a-day working week.
Better wellbeing itself should be a compelling reason for us all to look at more flexible and balanced ways of working. But another critical driver is to support the increasingly diverse workforce that every business needs to attract and retain. So many groups are not fairly represented in work because they can’t or don’t want to work a full working week but can’t find the opportunities or support to work the hours that they can — people with caring or other responsibilities in their lives, or with disabilities, or older workers, or those who simply want the choice.
It is evident that younger people will look for more flexibility at work, and whilst this will be driven by obvious lifestyle needs such as caring for young children, it may also be a shifting expectation of how they expect to be able to work. According to a 2013 survey by Deloitte,4 over 90% of the millennial generation say that flexibility is a top priority. With increasing female participation in the workforce, the current generation of women are combining child care and work, with research from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that ‘the employment rate for mothers in the UK was 74.0% in April toJune 2018, which has increased from 68.9% in 2013 and from 61.9% in 1996’.3 Evidence from the British Social Attitudes Survey showed that there has been a decline in the view that women should stay at home if they have a child under school age — from 64% in 1989, to 33% now’.6 A preference for flexible working is more than just an attitude, it’s an economic necessity.
Other surveys around the world have shown that more people would trade longer time off work for pay. A survey by Samsung in 2014 reported that some 27% of their interviewees would trade flexible working over a pay rise.7
Underlying much of this thinking is the desire or need for people to have more control and choice over their lives and not just be driven by rules or routines controlled by others. Autonomy is a major driver of engagement as Dan Pink highlighted in his popular book Drive.8 It is good to observe modern work practices and cultures shifting from the rule-bound command and control philosophies of the past, recognising the whole person and the positive drivers of behaviour and output. Supporting flexible working is very much part of this more enlightened future of work.
For employers therefore, the business case should be clear. Almost every business today talks of their challenges in accessing and retaining the workers and skills they need, and as the nature of work and required skills changes, this will be one of the most important strategic issues for any organisation. Providing more flexible working opportunities for people therefore becomes a business imperative and competitive advantage in accessing and retaining all the talent and skills they need, and to properly support diverse and inclusive workplaces.
This all sets a context for us that we need to understand to drive the case for change. To help create a world where good work and opportunities are available for all — something that has been called out as one of the United Nations 17 global sustainable development goals for 2030 and is seen as a vital political and economic outcome. Good work or jobs includes areas like fair pay and terms and conditions, and how people’s skills are used, opportunity for progression, and having their voice heard. But it also has as a central theme, support for work-life balance and wellbeing.
