To think Companies/employers should offered more flexible work, less hours, more annual leave

[Luna9]

Just reading another thread about how unhappy many people is to be working/commuting 5 days per week and I am thinking people will be happier if they could have a bit more flexibility like doing some days/hours from home. Also 35 hours per week instead of 37.5 or 40 and 30 days annual leave.

I understand flexible working doesn’t work for some jobs but it does for many others.

I think people will be more productive and happier.

Just dreaming

Public sector workers have been under a pay freeze for many years. Organisations operate under austerity measures, and there are unlikely to be any additional revenue funding for at least 5 years. For many years now people leave aren't replaced, work just gets shifted to other people. Public sector budgets are cut because there isn't the budget and we are required to deliver teh same service. Public sector did not cause the global recession the

Flexible working hours and generous leave allowances are compensation for the lower salary rates. The ability to work from home at least one day per week should be available for all.

In a lot of industries the profit margins are not big and people need to be physically there. Living wage and enhanced terms and conditions are great in principle but a lot of businesses, particularly small businesses, simply cannot afford more.

Businesses of any size who "cannot afford" to pay their staff at least a living wage should go bust. If someone can only afford to run their business through exploitation, their a pretty crap business person.

That’s not true dontmakemeshushyou often those companies who can’t pay living wage are contractors and their clients won’t pay it. The cost is always passed on.

The public sector do offer flexible working because they are unable to offer much else to attract staff, but they are also not efficient so not a great example

The problem is that in her highly skilled, domain specific jobs, the same person needs to be there when everyone else in. It's not easy for a management consultant to stay home on Friday if the client expects progress to happen, or for a delegate to pick up someone's code for a day..

No job is that important, is it?

Why can't there be two management consultants? Or why can't the week be arranged so that they work less hours? Or different days each week according to need?

Some of the comments on this thread are so sad. Of course it's possible. Of course 4 days are possible. Not for everyone. But for the majority of workers, businesses, I am totally sure it's possible.

And getting rid of presenteeism shouldn't be that hard.

why can't there be two management consultants

Erm.... because they're expensive

Ive got something very similar to this set up.

Two management consultants/programmers are expensive but equally the content of the role is so deep that it takes weeks or months to learn it. If that coder is writing code Mon-Thurs, the Friday developer would spend her whole day working out what has changed. It would be a waste of time and money.

Also sometimes you just have to see cases through- which is why so many client facing professions have such long hours. The client doesn’t want to deal with different people coming and going

As many people have said, it might not work in every case, but just because it doesn't work in say 20% of jobs, doesn't mean the other 80% cannot change.

That’s not true dontmakemeshushyou often those companies who can’t pay living wage are contractors and their clients won’t pay it. The cost is always passed on.

This makes no sense. It is precisely because some unscrupulous businesses are happy to drive their staff costs down in order to win contracts that clients can demand to pay less than they should. It's a race to the bottom and it shouldn't have to be.

Well, my full time hours are 36.5 hours per week. I get as much flexible working as I want. I currently work 4 days compressed hours, I am in the office 3 days a week core hours 10-4, work on the train the other hours those days, and work from home the 4th day each week. I also get about 9 weeks off per year (6 weeks annual leave, bank holidays, plus we are closed with full pay about 2 extra weeks per year). I work for a university.

I did put in a lot of time and money in education to get to the point I'm at, so it's good it's finally paid off. But yes, I think everyone should have this sort of flexibility. I have a great career and lots of time with my dc and good work life balance, generally speaking.

Of course it makes sense. You’re saying the same thing, just claiming it’s the contractors fault rather than the customers

No, I'm not saying the same thing. You said "often those companies who can’t pay living wage are contractors and their clients won’t pay it". I'm saying that they can pay it and they are simply choosing not to.

You obviously have no idea if that’s the case, not having access to the costings of every company that doesn’t pay living wage and all

You obviously have no idea if that’s the case, not having access to the costings of every company that doesn’t pay living wage and all

And so we come full circle. Either these companies choose not to pay the living wage because they are unscrupulous or they choose to be so utterly incompetent that they can't. Either way, they should not be in business. You don't need access to costings to be able to work that out.

I now work for a university after years of working in the private sector 5 days a week for very little pay and constantly expected to come in early/stay late. My mental health has improved drastically. I work a compressed week, can WFH whenever I choose and can choose my hours. Morale is so much higher, and while the pay is only a little bit better than my old job it matters much less to me now. I would rather have the time and flexibility. Oh and 41 days holiday! So much happier.

Of course you would expect your children's teachers to work hours to suit you!
Working hours have been reduced over time but not on such an ad-hoc basis.

The Civil service offers flexible working, 30 days annual leave after 5 years service plus 10.5 days public holidays, they also offer part time, term time & family friendly working. I used to work 19 hours over 3 days term time, I got a portion of the annual leave & public holidays, plus care days for caring for my son & then husband.

I feel strongly that staff would be more productive, there would be fewer sickness absences etc. If employees were given one day off a month, or even a half day.
It would reduce stress as the admin stuff that can't be done at weekends, such as appointments etc. could be scheduled for that day.
It would reduce absence as employees would know that even if everything is going shitty, it's on the horizon.
It would never be the same day or half day each month as to fit in with business needs and you can't bank it like flexi so no one can take the piss.
I'd love an employer who acknowledges that balancing everything is tough and gave real thought to reducing my work month on a small scale. I feel that a 4 day working week is a promise that sounds amazing bit, in practice, will fall flat on its face.

I feel that a 4 day working week is a promise that sounds amazing bit, in practice, will fall flat on its face.

It already does work in some countries. It can work in a lot of places.

Another shout for how flexible universities are. The ability to WFH, 37 days holiday plus bank holidays and Christmas.....this year we've been given an extra 5 days at Christmas.
A high level of flexibility and decent annual leave works far better than a mandatory 4 day week imo.

DontMakeMeShushYou
We sell fuel, our profit margins are low we make 3pence per litre on average. If we're lucky it's 4, if not sometimes it can be 2p depending on the prices at garages around us.
We have all the usual over heads and we need contingency money for pump breakdowns £400 a time in average.
It's nice to know that we deserve to go bust and that simply due to the nature of our industry that it's us that's crap and that were just exploiting our staff.
Maybe you need to take heed if your user name as despite our small profit margins were managing a successful business, with staff and have done for 10 yrs, the previous for 30 yrs. We have good reviews, staff are happy and well looked after despite not being able to afford anything other that the living wage, pension and a bit of overtime when it's available.

And what would you do OP if the childcare staff decided to work from home ?

And what would you do OP if the childcare staff decided to work from home ?

Just because it wouldn't work in some settings, doesn't mean it can't be put into practise in others.

Lots of jobs require you to actually attend work (retail, hospitality, care work, nursing, doctors/surgeons, GP's, vets) but plenty of others can be done at home or remotely.

No need to make everyone work to the same model just because some sectors have to be more rigid than others.