Flexible working v Career progression

[kslatts]

For those of you who have successfully applied for flexible working, has it made a difference to your career progression?

I have made the decision to put in a flexible working request to work from home a couple of days a week, I work for a large company where I feel there is a good chance I could be promoted when I complete my accountancy qualification.

Do you you think working from home will make a difference to my future promotion prospects?

I would be keen to hear other people's experiences.

Will reply more later (should do some work as otherwise chances of career progression are nil ).

Oh and I'm an accountant too .

thanks

It shouldn't make a difference however if a promotion comes up that can't be done from home, you would have to make a choice as flexible working is based on the role you are in at the time you apply.

They could insist that it is an office based role and it would be down to you to convince them that it could be done partly from home (if it could of course).

You shouldn't be excluded from a promotion or applying for other jobs because of flexible working - in fact you shouldn't suffer any detriment because of it

I thin kit depends very much on your boss. Some really feel that presence at work is essential (usually because they are control freaks and want to see their minions working for them). And some are quite happy just to judge on your productivity.

I'm afraid I am inclined to think that more often than not, flexible working will be seen as you having other priorities.

What is the working culture like in your company? Do many people 'work from home' occasionally? In principle it should not affect your promotion prospects (equal opportunities blah blah blah) but lets be honest sometimes in the real world it does. As a previous poster said it depends on your boss and I think the working culture of the company. I'm a Commercial Accountant working full time and can work @ home, office or the moon - my boss really does not care as he knows the work will be done. My team are spread across Europe so makes little difference if I am in the offic or not. Hope they give it to you.

Hi - I do flexible working but its too soon to gauge whether it has affected my career progression. My experience of my last company was that two women directors worked flexibly (4 day weeks) and it didn't affect their progression at all. When you apply for a new job you don't have to give details of whether you work flexibly so it shouldn't even be discussed unless you raise it.

Saying that, when I started my current post I asked for reduced hours and it was turned down, but I was given the choice whether to accept the post at full hours or walk away, so I accepted.

If you feel it is affecting your progression in the future in the current company, you can raise this as a discrimination issue perhaps?

Thanks for your comments. I've decided to go for it, I'm going to apply next week.

Good luck - apparently 85% of applications for flexible working are agreed nowadays