Making the workplace work for you.
Working nine to five, what a way to make a living. If you’re barely getting by, do you ever feel like it’s all taking and no giving? It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it! It’s a good thing there is another way!
There’s many of us for whom the fixed working week just doesn’t work. It can be for a number of reasons, even something as simple as you just aren’t productive in an office environment. I can certainly relate to that, my mind can wander at times throughout the day while in the office and I end up writing blogs based around Dolly Parton lyrics...
There’s a lot of people out there who have a lot more legitimate reasons than “day dreams” for needing a flexible working arrangement. Things like childcare and dependant relatives take up large amounts of our time, and oftentimes they don’t fit neatly around a rigid work schedule.
The days of “set in stone” work hours are being pushed out as businesses adapt to peoples increasingly 24/7 lifestyles. This is becoming easier with our technology being ever more portable, from our laptops all the way through to our smart phones and now even smart watches! Everything we do is becoming more and more mobile, our lives are becoming ever more on the go so why not extend that to our careers?
These changes in our lives call for more flexible working hours. When I talk about flexible working I don’t mean coming in half hour later as long as you don’t mind staying after everyone else, I’m talking about something far less rigid. There are many ways that employers are allowing their employees to work more flexibly:
Flexi-time: building your employees week around “core hours”. As long as these hours are worked, the remaining hours can be fulfilled as and when they like. This allows employees to work when they’ll be the most productive, fit in their personal needs AND cover the businesses needs.
Compressed hours: This allows employees to cover the same amount of hours but over fewer days. The working days are longer, but having the additional full days off allows employees to fit more into their personal life.
Working from home: With emails and work servers being able to be connected to by a whole manner of devices and from all over the world, working from home can be just as easy as working in the office. It can be for any number of reasons you need to be at home for a day, but being able to connect to work from home means you get the best of both worlds.
Annual hours: Employees agree at the start of the work year how many hours they will work that year, this means the hours worked on a weekly basis can be more flexible. For those who have sporadic periods of free time away from their responsibilities, it will allow them to squeeze more hours into their week as and when they can.
Job sharing: It’d be silly if we didn’t mention this one. Job sharing allows two people to share one job. This allows positions to be filled on the regular 9-5 basis while still allowing the individuals involved to take time away for their needs. We’ve covered the benefits before here and here in case you missed them, have a read!
Many jobs now allow for flexible working from the outset, but if you’re currently in full-time employment yet you yearn for something a little more flexible, fear not! Thanks to some changes in the law, you can now request more flexible working arrangements from your employer and they’re obligated to consider it (if you’ve been working consistently for the same employer for over 26 weeks). In fact they must prove it’ll be detrimental to the business before they can say no, so don’t be afraid to raise the issue.
This change does come with its limitations though... You can only make applications once per year, so ensure you’re prepared in full before you talk to your boss. If they find reasons that you haven’t accounted for against more flexible working hours you’ll have to wait a full year before you can make another application, so do your research!
If you’re thinking about requesting a job share with your employer, or you’re looking to get out and into a more flexible role, make sure you sign up with us at Share Your Job. We can help you find your perfect job share partner today!
