"Typical flexible worker - Working, married
mum over the age of 35. She is highly organised, independent
and self-sufficient, but not particularly IT savvy. She would
like more childcare support, sabbaticals and possibly a
flexi-time approach to work. She is not interested in palm
pilots or mobile phones as flexible working provisions from
her company."
This is the typical flexible worker according to
HR Directors in a new survey from Nextra.
The survey covers all kinds of flexible working
from flexitime through leave options to technology-based remote
working. Amongst the other findings are the following:
-
A significant number of UK companies (55%)
have already implemented flexible working solutions for staff
and a quarter of the remaining companies are currently
investigating it
-
Of these, 57% of companies questioned have
corporate directives on flexible working. This means 43% have
no official guidelines
-
A quarter of HR directors would like more
childcare support above any other flexible working initiative
-
42% of companies claim they do not have a
glass ceiling and that flexible working is promoted at all
levels
-
Nearly a quarter (23%) of senior management
don't trust staff to flexi-work
-
The majority of HR directors themselves (52%)
would prefer a more flexible working schedule. 36% claim they
already have a very flexible working week
This is the view from the HR department, which
asserts the pivotal position of HR in developing flexible work:
"HR is the most active department (42%) in
promoting flexible working. IT is the least active (4%)".
When all kinds of flexible working are taken
into account, it is certainly the case that HR departments have
a long history of introducing flexible work. In particular, with
the current emphasis on work-life balance, it is perhaps not
surprising that HR directors should emphasise the forms of
flexible work that are more familiar to them.
The kind of flexible work provision HR directors
would most like to develop is increased childcare provision.
This tops the list with 25% seeing it as most desired.
Sabbaticals come in second [I'll support that one! - Ed]
with 14%. Remote access solutions trail with 10%, although 11%
of companies say they already have such solutions in place (but
for how many people?).
This survey provides some interesting insights
into the perceptions and priorities of HR directors. There seems
to be clear commitment to the wider principles of flexible
working. There also seems to be greater emphasis on the
development of traditional family-friendly solutions such as
flexi-time and childcare provision than on "information age"
flexible working solutions that have a sharper focus on business
efficiency.
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