Soldiers get the opportunity to job share in an effort to boost female numbers
ATTENTION!
There was a time, not that long ago, when the mere mention of flexible working or job sharing would provoke the retelling of one of a handful of weak gags.
Perhaps the most tedious of all you'd hear scoffed back at you concerned the military.
"What next." they'd excitedly blurt, "job share soldiers clocking on and off the battlefield!"
Pass me that needle and thread, my sides are a splitting.
But guess what, British Army top brasser General Sir Nicholas Carter has recently announced that soldiers will indeed be given the opportunity to job share, work part-time or choose flexible hours in a bid to double the number of female troops.
No joke!
The General hopes that plans will allow those with children to still play a role in the Army, in a bid to make the army a more modern employer, General Carter said: "If you are working in a job that is not at high readiness in an operational unit there is absolutely no reason why you should not perhaps be able to parade a bit later in the morning so that your children will be able to be dropped at the school."
He added "Maybe you will do some work instead, either at the weekend when your partner is around or in the evening, so that we have a more flexibile approach to the way in which we require people to work."
Currently, female soldiers make up 8.9 per cent of the 82,000-strong Army and General Carter would like to see that figure raised to 15 per cent in five years time.
Flexible working hours will be introduced from September 3 but will not apply to people in units who are on a live military operation or are about to be deployed to one.
Sir Nicholas - we salute you!