Flexibility in the workplace has become a major priority for employees in recent years. In particular, flexible working is useful for parents who may need to juggle childcare with work, and for those who don’t want to return to the office full-time after maternity leave.
It’s not just parents, however. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw working from home become the norm, other workers are increasingly looking for ways to work flexibly so they don’t need to be tied to their desks for the traditional nine to five.
In this article, we’ll take a look at six different flexible working arrangements that you can implement at your business to help your team, especially working parents.
The benefits of flexible working for employers and employees
Flexible working can offer benefits to both employees and employers when implemented correctly.
Some of the key benefits of a flexible working policy are:
- Improved workplace culture, with staff less likely to be “chained to their desk” and a better work/life balance.
- Increased productivity. Staff are often much more likely to be productive when they can work on their own terms and at a time and place that suits them.
- Reduced costs. Employers are able to save on office space while employees can save money on commuting every day.
- Attracting talent and staff retention. In 2024, flexible working is often non-negotiable for employees. In fact, research shows that 71% of people consider being able to work flexibly as important when looking for a role. You’ll be able to attract and retain the best talent if you have a policy in place.
- Fewer absences. Flexible working allows staff to have more opportunity to look after their physical and mental health, and offers time for attending appointments, resulting in fewer absences and sick leave requests.
Key considerations for implementing flexible working arrangements
If you decide to implement a flexible working policy at your organisation, there are some things you’ll need to consider first.
- The impact on employees. Do your employees want a flexible working policy? Are there some employees who will be unable to work flexibly?
- Business hurdles. Will flexible working have a negative impact on your business? Are there business-critical tasks that require a traditional working setup?
- Resources. Consider how much resource it will take to set up a flexible working policy, including the cost of ensuring staff have the equipment they need to work outside of the office.
- Rules and regulations. What exactly will your flexible policy entail? Will there be set hours you expect staff to work? Rules and guidelines will need to be decided and communicated clearly to employees.
6 examples of flexible working hours for working parents
Below we’ve listed six flexible working examples that you can consider for your small business.
1. Remote working
Remote working allows employees to work from anywhere, often their home.
Implementing remote working means staff do not need to travel to the workplace every day and can instead work from wherever they wish. This could be a home office, a cafe, or even a local coworking space.
Remote working policies often include a requirement for “in-office” days for organisations that still have a static workplace. This means that employees will be expected to work from the office for a set number of days a week and work the rest remotely.
Remote working comes with a variety of benefits, including the fact that employees are able to work in an environment best suited to them, thus increasing their productivity.
2. Flexible hours (flextime)
Flexible hours or “flextime” allows employees to work their hours at any point during a set time period.
For example, if your staff usually work eight hours a day, flextime allows staff to work those eight hours at any point of the day, whether that’s 10am to 6pm, 8am to 4pm. 7am to 3pm, et cetera.
Flextime is popular with working parents as it allows them to still work full-time, but means they can fit their hours around things such as the school run or childcare gaps.
Some organisations that offer flextime set a time period when the hours must be worked. For example, you may stipulate that workers cannot start before 7am, and must be finished by 7pm.
3. Compressed worksheet
Compressed hours allow workers to compress their working hours for the week into fewer days.
Rather than cutting their hours down and becoming a part-time worker, employees work extra hours on the days they are working to make up the time.
For example, instead of working eight hours per day, five days a week, a worker could opt to do 10 hours per day, four days a week, giving them an additional day off.
This is useful for working parents who may lack childcare on a specific day of the week, as it allows them to take the day off without losing any income. Plus, as a small business owner, you won’t lose out on staff hours and work either.
4. Job sharing
Job sharing is when two employees share one full-time role. Both employees are responsible for the role and its success, but they split the hours of the role between them.
For example, one employee may work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the other may work Tuesday and Thursday.
Job sharing can be beneficial for those who want to reduce their hours but don’t want to take on a more junior role, or reduce their responsibilities within the organisation.
Introducing job sharing tends to be on a more individual basis as opposed to a company-wide policy, and can require more admin and communication when setting up.
5. Part-time work
Part-time work is a popular choice for working parents as it allows them to cut down their hours considerably from a full-time role, freeing up time for them to spend with their family.
You can introduce part-time work to your organisation in a variety of ways.
You can create roles that are part-time and hire for these accordingly, or you can offer part-time working as an option to those returning from maternity and paternity leave.
If you do decide to offer part-time work, you need to first ensure that this will not impact your business negatively. Plan and be clear on exactly what responsibilities will be covered by the part-time role and what may need to be redistributed.
6. Term-time working
Term-time working is a contract agreement that employees only work during the school term time, giving them the school holidays off with their children.
The benefits to an employee are obvious: they have more time with their children and don’t need to worry about childcare during school holidays.
For employers, however, term-time working can be a little more complicated. You’ll need to:
- Have this clearly laid out in an employee contract.
- Be clear about exactly when they will and won’t be working (and remember, term dates can change every year).
- Ensure that their role is covered during the time they are off, especially during the extended summer break.
How to support working parents beyond flexible working arrangements
It’s not just flexible working arrangements that are beneficial to working parents. There are various things you can do as an employer to help support the working parents in your organisation, including:
- Offering childcare assistance, for example, a salary sacrifice scheme or childcare vouchers.
- Implementing a strong parental leave policy that gives new parents ample paid time off to spend with their new baby.
- Supporting all types of parents at your organisation with policies such as adoption leave.
- Creating a supportive work culture that offers understanding and flexibility to working parents. Consider offering training or comms sessions with non-parents to allow them to better understand the needs of their peers.
- Ensuring career progression opportunities are open to everyone and that working parents are not at an unfair disadvantage.
Final Thoughts
Flexible working arrangements can be a lifeline for working parents, but they should be available to all of your team if you decide to implement them.
Having a written policy with clear guidelines in place is key for a flexible working policy to be successful, everyone needs to understand what is expected of them.
There are various ways you can implement a flexible working policy, and you’ll need to find the one that works best for your organisation and staff. But by offering flexible working, you’ll likely see an increase in productivity, staff happiness, and talent retention.
With 10 years experience in the digital marketing industry, Lucy is a content writer specialising in ecommerce, website building and all things small business. Her passion is breaking down tricky topics into digestible and engaging content for readers. She’s also committed to uncovering the best platforms, tools, and strategies, researching meticulously to providing hand-on tips and advice.
