No, not that one
I say the F word a lot, especially working here. I’ll casually I say the F word to my colleagues, I’ll say the F word to our users, I’ll say the F word to pretty much anyone who’s listening! The word itself tends to get a pretty bad rap (especially amongst some management types) and even today has somewhat of a stigma attached to it. The word I’m talking about, obviously, is flexibility. Were you thinking of something else?
When I talk about flexibility having a bad reputation, I mean it in from a career point of view. We often see flexible workers, those who work part-time or on reduced hours, as “second tier” or not as important as a full-timer. Even people who want to apply for these jobs are often afraid that they won’t be taken as seriously as a full-timer which often puts them off.
Younger workers these days have a greater need for flexibility, this is something that employers will need to get used to seeing as mostly everything is available 24/7 nowadays. We don’t have to wait for shops to open as we can buy online, we don’t have to write to our friends to know what they’ve been up to as we can just check their social media, you don’t even have to look away from your phone to find a date anymore! Every aspect of our lives doesn’t run to a locked in schedule anymore so why should work be any different?
Flexibility is still seen as a little bit of a dirty word because it challenges the way we’ve always done things.
Many of us are currently guilty of seeing someone absent from the office 3 days a week and thinking that their either lazy or not committed to the job which needs to change. The person who isn’t in the office as much can be just as committed as a full-timer, they may just need their job to work for them a little more.
Flexible working in all its forms (job sharing, part-time work, flexi time etc.) is going to become far more common place over coming years, it’s time we stopped with the stigma and judging of people by the nature of their work. A flexible workplace allows for a diverse workplace which is ultimately best for business, benefitting everyone in the long term.