Why is it so hard to find a job with flexible working?

[jinjkl]

It feels like everyone has flexible working these days - except me! I don't want much, just a job where I can maybe start half an hour earlier one day and leave half an hour earlier. Or the ability to work at home sometimes. But everywhere I work seems to be strict and rigid, with no flexibility. I can't even go to the doctors without booking annual leave!

That sounds tough. What line of work are you in? Have they said why they are so inflexible?

Have you looked at the civil service?

I've found flexible working comes with long service, they are more willing to accommodate an employee who has proven themselves first.

I was just about to reiterate what the previous poster said - I, and most of my friends who work outside the home,work flexibly but we are all very ancient (well, in our 50's!) and I don't think one of us was working flexibly 20 years ago, but most of us have been in our roles for a long time now and have proved that we can do the job so we've all gradually moved into different working patterns.

You tend to get the opportunity to work from home, finish early etc. when you've been somewhere for a while and the organisation know you can be trusted.

Employers are missing a trick by not considering flexible working for new staff. We get much better candidates if we offer flexibility.

Look at the civil service, they are generally very good about offering flexible packages from the start of a new job.

Yeah the civil services is great for this kind of thing. They can't offer much by way of perks but this is one thing they know they can offer so they do!

Yes, I agree with others. Flexible working is often a perk that's earned through long and reliable service. I don't have any official flexible working but if I need an hour off I expect to take it from the hours I'm "owed" through unpaid overtime. I don't think you can apply for a job on that basis.

Working from home was going to be the next big thing in the late 90s/early 00s but then dawned a realisation that actually people often don't do much work and that it's actually not very good for staff wellbeing.

I hear you! I’m in a very rigid 9-5 mon-fri job, can’t leave 5 mins early even if you start 40 mins early.

Try civil service OP, its not always down to long service where i work most people negotiate working patterns before they start their roles.

I did and now start between 9 or 10 able to leavr work at 4pm or work from home half day or at least 1 day a week.

Are there firms that offer flexi-time nowadays?

When i started work in 1970s i worked flexi-time whereby there were core hours between 10 am and 4 pm (with minimum 30 minutes lunch break you had to take) when everybody had to be in work and flexible bands between 8-10 am and 4-6 pm when people could choose to arrive and leave. You could vary your hours as you wished. Hours worked were recorded via time sheet or clocking in/out machine.

First job was civil service and second large insurance company.

Advantage was you could take 1 day flexi-time leave per month, which did not come out of annual leave, based on extra hours built up over month.

Depends what you do and the business need. I am recruiting for two people atm and I can't be flexible.

The office has a staffing need, we need someone there between 9 and 5. I already have two p/t workers but these new jobs are both f/t and I need a core person there between 9-5 (two locations).

The flexo time arrangement you refer to is often terribly abused though Elinor. Arrive 30 mins early daily (as you probably would anyway)do very little extra to you normal day's work and get 2 extra day's leave every month. Nice gig if you can get it but not particularly useful to the employer.

There are some pretty out dated views on flexi working here. There is a lot in it for the employer: staff feel motivated, respected and valued and those staff are then more loyal to the company and more productive. Staff stay longer so the company gets more years for its investment in training etc.

Being present at your desk does not mean you are being productive. I can look very diligent turning up at 8am each day but in fact spend the first hour faffing. It’s lazy management to assume hours govern productivity, in most office jobs staff should have results based objectives and the hours they put in to achieve those results matter much less than the results themselves.

Also with modern technology working at home doesn’t mean you can’t join meetings, work on shared documents etc.

I manage a large civil service team and productivity and morale both improved when we became much more flexible.

@readingriot. We had monthly work schedules to complete so if we took a flexi day off we still had to complete our work within the month.

Flexi-time was great if you needed doctor or dentist appointments which you either arranged outside core time or took a longer lunch break to attend (could take up to 2 hours between 12 and 2 pm with permission.) Obviously lunch breaks were unpaid.

It was also good if you wanted to avoid rush hour traffic, have a lie in or have a day off for a delivery. Also meant there was no unpaid overtime because all working hours were recorded and could be TOIL.

I am sure we have gone backwards in looking after staff nowadays.

It depends heavily on the roles you're looking at. I run a call centre, I have to deliver the service between set hours and make sure that there are always enough people to pick up the calls.

I can't overstaff because it's a profit making business, if we miss service level we cause reputational damage and we have to pay fines.

So for my phone based staff i can't afford for people to flexible work as it would affect availability.

I could for my admin staff as they have workloads that can be more easily moved.

I agree with pp who mention longevity in a role as being a recurring factor in who gets flexibility.

The other thing I'd mention is that as flexibility increases on one side, it also increases on the other too. I am a senior honcho in a medium sized company. I pretty much work when and where I want. But in return that sees me taking calls to LA at 9 or 10pm; working very early or late or weekends and working (albeit more briefly or just be available for calls) on holidays.

But the give and take balances it all out. Some people are happy with that, some aren't - horses for courses. So in essence, be careful what you wish for.

I work in NHS admin which (at least where I worked) can be very inflexible. We were all moved by management to core hours irrespective of whether it worked for the service.

I really started to resent it and now I have a child I'm seriously considering whether it's workable.

If you can find the flexitime cf thread it might explain why employers are reluctant.

If you can find the flexitime cf thread

Gosh yes I remember that one! It was a real corker, so it may be in Classics.

Flexitime CF 1

Flexitime CF 2