NOW CLOSED: Tell us what you think about the new flexible working contract designed by O2 - you could win a £100 Amazon voucher

[AnnMumsnet]

You may know we have been doing some work with O2 (via our panel) and as part of the Mumsnet Family Friendly programme - and now O2 are excited to announce the launch of the O2 Working Families' Contract.

O2 say "The O2 Working Families' Contract(* SEE ADDITIONAL NOTE BELOW) is a new flexible contract designed with working parents in mind. It allows groups of between two and four working mums and dads to freely decide how they will cover shifts over a month, to which they can make changes at any time, giving them the flexibility to balance their jobs with activities such as the school run, their children's holidays and unplanned emergencies. At O2 we want to make it as easy as possible for our people to be there for their family when they need to be, whilst managing their job responsibilities"

They want to help spread the word about this and also to get some feedback from the Mumsnet community about the concept. we appreciate working in an O2 shop may not be for your or your DH/DP but what do you think about the idea in principle? What do you think is good? What would you like to see in the concept? Do you think it it something you'd like to see your employer offer (or a local employer)? What pitfalls can you envisage? How do you think you/ O2 could work to solve these?

At the moment, this is just a trial - and is being piloted at O2's stores at The O2 in Greenwich, Edinburgh and St Albans.

Do add your thoughts on this thread - and if you think you might be interested in applying, please go to www.o2careers.co.uk and use the following reference numbers: St Albans - IRC126340/ Edinburgh 135 Princes St -IRC126341/ O2 at the O2 - IRC126343

Everyone who adds a comment on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner, drawn at random, will win a £100 Amazon voucher

Best of luck and thanks for your comments
MNHQ

NB: PLEASE NOTE:
The team at O2 have been reading your responses on this thread with great interest and are very grateful for all the feedback as it will help them shape the contract.

They wanted to clarify: "Whilst we designed this with parents in mind, it is absolutely open to people without children. Most of the shifts would be around the middle of the day, as it's the busiest time in store, which should suit parents trying to fit in school runs"

MNHQ

It sounds great but what if everyone has an emergency at the same time. eg teachers strike, wouldn't it be better to teamup parents & non parents with a line manager refereeing to make sure that everyone does their share

Sounds very good. I like that O2 are considering both parents, and that it is over a month.

I think it is a fantastic idea and O2 are great for thinking outside the box. It would need to be monitored carefully to make sure that everyone is happy with the shifts and that a pushier person doesn't get the shifts they want and others just have to fit around them. I would love to work for an employer who is this flexible.

It sounds like a good idea, but there will always be a least one person taking the mick as its between the four people involved

I agree that flexible working is a good idea but it needs to be extended to all, not just parents. What about people who have caring responsibility for other family members ie their own parents?

There could be much resentment if it is not managed well. Also provision needs to be made for the school holidays.

It would be better to team up parents and non parents as their needs will be different and so they may be able to work out a suitable pattern to cover all shifts.

I think it is great that businesses are trying to help parents get back to work. There are so few employers that are willing to be flexible that any improvement is a step in the right direction.

Sounds great and it would make me look at working for O2 if my local shop had this practice.

In reality... I think it would be a nightmare for the manager who would be dealing with a lot of petty arguing on the lines of "I swapped with her so that she could go to school assembly but she won't swap so I can help on a school trip." etc

Would people without families feel annoyed at not getting similar terms? What dispute techniques would managers use for situations where nobody wants to work unpopular days - rock/paper/scissors?

This is a forward thinking idea with potential, but as many have stated above, a logistical nightmare for the manager. A 3 or 6 month trial would help iron out the difficulties. Also, non parents might feel snubbed- what if they have elderly parents at home, etc- they would want the benefits of a flexible schedule too. Already at the workplace, non parents often feel obliged to yield to parents' schedules, so this would further divide them.

I think it's a bad idea- sounds a bit too vague - as others have said what happens about time slots everyone wants/needs off?

I think its a fab idea. I really want to return to work but trying to find somewhere that can accomodate around my husbands shifts is hard so as childcare is just too expensive, so this would be ideal for me. I do believe this could be used on all employees not just carers.

Im sure there would always be some teething problems but with the right staff in place, and the correct management I would imagine it would provide 02 with a good image and recommadation from its staff.

We had a similar way of working shifts out in my last place of employment and it worked a treat, we were all on it though (not just people with children) we were lucky that we understood each others needs and would cover peoples shifts if something came up if it was possible.

I wish o2 look with this and hope it will be something that will encourage other employers to look at.

Good idea in theory, but what about if the group working relationship changes and say 3 out of 4 want to get rid of one in the group, how would this be managed by HR, employment rights?

It sounds like a really good idea in theory but I can't help but wonder how they will cope with times when they all want to be off. For example between Christmas and New Year and during holidays. Who will be their 'moderator' and decide for them when they can't decide together? It looks like a good way of making people co-operate but in reality it could cause conflict issues.

Thanks for all the comments...O2 have come back to us about this policy being open to everyone - please see revised OP. All feedback welcome

It seems like a great idea.

As others have said, there may be problems implentng due to demands for certain times (school runs, holidays). I think there would need to be some kind of mediation/arbitration to keep things positive when there is a lack of agreement. Shouldn't be a barrier to making it happen though.

I thinkmit sounds very good in theory and hope it works.

Just wonder what would happen if for instance everyone refuses to work a fri aft? I'm guessing at that point a manager would decide who has to work, but what would then happen if that person has no childcare?

It's a very good theory, but not sure that in practice it can apply to many workplaces. My last workplace trialled a flexible working scheme for parents and found that parents wanted to avoid Thursday's and Friday's which left us that didn't have children [at the time] short staffed and stressed out on those days. So it went back to the drawing board and since hasn't been re-vamped in a workable way.

It could work well in customer service fields like shops and call centres where there are many members of staff, as their isn't as much a caseload to pass over. It would be nice to share with other family members as well, I have little faith in colleagues as they all seem to either take the michael, or in my case be the one stuck doing peculiar, unsociable or broken hours. But what would happen come holiday season? would we have to book it to be off all at the same time? would the others have to take up the slack of that away person?

There would also need to be a common sense line manager who can make sure that everyone has a fair share, rather than all the 'best' hours and none of the antisocial ones.

It is a brilliant idea, and defiantly the way forward. How this has not happened until now I will never know.

I think this idea should also be considered for HQ office staff as well, so that it can pioneer the way for all Blue Chip companies to offer flexible working for parents. Moving the concept of job sharing forward to an everyday thing.

Another thing to consider is school holiday timings - could workers holiday allowance be flexible to fit this, could hours be clocked up as opposed to 'days' or 'shifts' so that holiday time could be collected - thus helping you out because people would want to work more anti social hours if it meant they could take more holiday in the summer

Thanks for all the comments - much appreciated! Am pleased to say minsmum has been randomly selected as the winner and she receives a £100 Amazon voucher to say thanks! Have PM-ed you.