Flexible working, a womens’ issue?

Flexible working, a womens’ issue?

As the world questions what ‘normality’ even is any more, Amy explores some of the current discussions about flexible working, and whether it is – or should be – primarily a womens’ issue.

I am a member of the GM Women and Girls’ Equality Panel, set up to accelerate gender equality in Greater Manchester. I was pleased when flexible working popped up on the agenda for a recent panel meeting because this is a topic that gets me going. What a different context we’d have had for discussion even just 18 months ago.

Discussions were opened with a presentation from Sue Coe, Senior Policy officer at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), beginning with a recap of the pre-pandemic picture: a huge mismatch between those who wanted flexible working and those who got it.

Although the law gives us a ‘right to request’ flexible working, in reality, this is a ‘right to be turned down’ – which one in three requests are. Requests can only be made once a year, so if you are in that unfortunate third, you’re stuck for another twelve months at least. The picture is likely more depressing because so many don’t bother making flexible working requests – having witnessed others try and fail they know their workplace culture would be unlikely to permit it. There’s also an element of ‘false flexibility’ at play – within the law – leading to employer-centric initiatives such as the much-denounced ‘zero hours contract’

…And then Covid. Almost overnight, Sue says, the 5% of the workforce who were home working became 40% of the workforce.

This was not an equitably distributed percentage, however. Those over the age of 25, in higher-paid roles and working in London and the South East were more likely to work from home than their younger, more northerly counterparts. The TUC is concerned that this has created a class-based system for not just working from home,  but all types of flexible working.

Nationally, there is a huge appetite to retain what the pandemic has given us a taste of. This may present an opportunity to level the playing field somewhat between the genders. Pre-pandemic, women were more likely than men to have their flexible working requests accepted. However, this often put them on the path to disadvantage – especially for new mums, who were seen as ‘lacking in commitment’ as they set off down the ‘mummy track’.

As someone who successfully brought a sex and maternity discrimination claim against a former employer, I have experienced first hand how it feels to have prejudice and discrimination derail your career. One of the key points raised in this meeting was – shockingly – that such discrimination is all too often driven by female leaders ‘pulling up the ladder behind them’ so to speak. This was also the case for me.

We know that caring responsibilities – at both ends of society – often fall to the women in the middle. That is why women are more likely to request (and be granted) the right to flexible working. However, this is also the reason why it’s equally important for men to have equal rights to it. Let’s not reinforce the unequal shouldering of the burden of caring responsibilities by making flexible working a women’s issue. Men should be given the opportunity to take on their share, and hopefully this will go some way to eliminating the idea of ‘the mummy track’.

As a primary step, the TUC is calling for advertising duty, in which all types of flexibility are to be advertised with a job role. That means exploring all the ways in which that role may have the potential to be flexible, and if little or no flexibility were possible, the burden of proof would fall to the employer to evidence why. Likewise, employers should need to prove exceptional circumstances in order to refuse a flexible working request. Both should be subject to a mechanism of enforcement within employment law.

The idea is that flexibility is outlined in writing as a key part of the role from the outset – and not linked to whether the individual employee ‘deserves it’. Once this is engrained in the organisational culture the stigma of flexible working is likely to dissipate – hopefully along with the idea that women are a less valuable business resource (read this blog on the Power of the Parent for more on this).

We’re not just talking about direct benefits to women, but to men, children, businesses and to society of having a happy, healthy, rested, competent and committed workforce.

As a small team with many tasks that can be completed remotely and outside working hours, Boo has been able to successfully implement a flexible working policy which meets the needs of the business and allows each of the team to work around their other responsibilities in life. This undoubtedly contributes to our high levels of morale, wellbeing, job satisfaction and company loyalty. We self report that this has increased our productivity too – we certainly have a thriving business to show for it.

But what of industries with a more rigidly structured working day? What of hospitals, which need to be staffed 24 hours a day with minimum staffing levels, no matter what? What would healthcare flexibility look like, and should we even consider trying to flex frontline NHS roles?

Yes, if we want to improve attrition rates and working conditions in these vital institutions. In fact, it could not be more imperative to do so – the stakes are quite literally, life and death.

Sue Coe of the TUC reminds us that flexibility in practice means something different to every organisation, but there are myriad options to explore. Here are a couple of examples she gives in a healthcare context around shifts:

• Predictability of shifts
• Self rostering within teams – colleagues working together to form rotas that work for them.

The benefits to the employee are fairly obvious, but what about the benefits to the NHS? Well it might stop so many staff leaving to join agencies so that they can have more control over their shifts (at the expense of employment rights). This means that hospitals might be employing the same staff on the same wards, at a much higher cost to the NHS.

So many organisations and industries which previously claimed that flexible working was not a viable option for their employees were proved wrong during the Covid pandemic. Now that the possibilities have been explored, let’s not go back.