What does flexible working mean to you? Share with Mumsnet Talent - £300 TK Maxx voucher to be won

[LucyBMumsnet]

As a parent you often have to juggle seemingly never-ending responsibilities, meaning flexible working becomes a crucial requirement when looking for a job. And it's not just parents who suffer — a lack of flexibility can be detrimental to anyone with care responsibilities, outside commitments or disabilities of their own.

That’s why Mumsnet Talent is dedicated to making parents' lives easier by promoting flexibility in the workplace. We believe it's possible to have a career without compromise, with a job that supports your lifestyle instead of dictating it. That's why every role we host is flexible or home-based, and why we strive to represent every sector and every level.

As champions of flexible working, we’d like to hear what flexible working - outside of times where employers have no choice - means to you. Do you have a flexible job right now? What form does flexible working take? Perhaps it’s a job share or part-time hours? Maybe it’s the ability to work from home regularly or flexi-hours so you’re able to drop your children off at school? What elements of ‘flexible working’ are most appealing to you?

Whatever flexible working means to you, share it on the thread below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 TK Maxx voucher (to be spent in TK Maxx or Homesense).

If you're looking for a new job, look no further than Mumsnet Talent. Sign up here and explore more than 3,000 flexible roles currently waiting for your application.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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We don't have an official flexible working policy but my employer will consider most requests to make life easier. It's a small business so easy for him to keep a handle on it.

For me it's working 4 days over 5 which gives the the opportunity to leave early for pick ups when I need to. (Or turn in late).

I'm set up to work from home too although I mainly do this when I'm low on my weekly hours. It helps during school holidays too when I've taken annual leave for childcare but can still do some work to keep on top of things. I just log these hours to take time off in lieu.

Fitting in with school hours, in usual circumstances. At the moment that's all gone to pot 🤦🏻‍♀️

I used to work for the NHS and went part-time after having children, but it was becoming self-employed which really gave me the flexibility to do my work around them.

I’d underestimated the number of school events, parents’ assemblies etc there would be while they were at primary school and it was impossible to take the time off for all of them. I got fed up, too, of using all my annual leave for their illness.

Going self-employed was a leap of faith and meant a drop in income but it was worth it in terms of choosing when to work, increased job satisfaction, less rushing-from-one-thing-to-another type stress and being around when I needed to be. I’d assumed that the older the children became the more I’d work but have actually found that their teens, and particularly GCSE year, has been a time when they’ve needed me around more, just for different reasons to when they were little.

My earnings and ‘career progression’ would have been better had I continued in my job, but in terms of managing children and work self-employment has been the solution for me.

Being able to work when, where and how I want to. Making my work suit my life. Being part of my team without needing to physically be there. Knowing that my employer facilitates and supports me working this way.

I can work pretty much anywhere with a 4G signal but usually at home or the office (or on trains on the way to visiting our other offices). Obviously at home all the time at the moment.

I also have flexitime which means I work 37 hours per week but can take days off if I have enough hours or work the times in the day that suit me. As long as I make the meetings I am needed at or organise a deputy, it works fine.

I have progressed well in this role (now a senior manager) and its not uncommon for people to work at home in my sector both junior and senior.

I used to have a long commute in my last job and worked a compressed week, 5 days over 4. It meant I was out of the house 6:20am to 7:15pm Mon-Thurs but made up for it with 3 day weekends. There was no reason I couldn't have worked from home half the time but my boss discouraged it annoyingly.

My employer is very flexible: we can WFH when we feel like it and work our hours however we want, provided we are available for meetings that have been pre-booked. So there are no worries about how to cover deliveries, repairs to the house or appointments, and if you don't want to hear the noise in the office you just stay at home.

I hope that employers that were still resistant to the idea due to old-fashioned preconceptions about staff slacking will now realise that actually their people are responsible adults and should have as much flexibility as is feasible for their job.

Flexible working to me means taking ownership of your role and having mutual trust and cooperation with your employer.
No need to be in at 9am on the dot, or wait until 5pm to leave. But unless there is a strong reason why not (concert tickets/collecting child from nursery etc) then working in your evening is fair game too. Working from home is a normal part of work for me, at least one day per week. It's give and take between employer and employee to find the best for both. Ultimately the business goals need to be met.
This flexibility also applies to those without children and their Zumba class is as important as me collecting my children from school. This stops resentment towards working parents and fosters longer term loyalty to the company. I am so happy to have worked for flexible employers and now that I have children I feel very lucky to be so present at performances etc. Good tech is a must for flexibility especially for working remotely.

I’ve been really fortunate to work for very different organisations that have embraced flexible working in the broadest sense: tailoring hours to suit people’s needs and location, but also allowing flex and give and take where necessary. One was a tech company so that was not surprising, but the charity I work for has embraced it wholeheartedly and because of that has managed to retain employees who would have left otherwise. It does mean you need to have grown ups who you can trust, but once you have that, it genuinely does make a huge difference to productivity and engagement

For me, it really helps to have an employer who recognises the need for flexibility on an ad hoc basis e.g. allowing you to come in late one day because your child has a parents' assembly, without you needing to take a day or half-day of leave (and on the understanding that you'll make the time up). I don't have that kind of flexibility written into my contract, but it's more a cultural ethos of a workplace. It's that kind of flexibility that makes all the difference to working parents. Ultimately it's good for employers too, because that kind of flexibility works both ways, and it pays back in terms of goodwill from employees.

For me, flexible working is more about covering school holidays. I could manage part time hours (whilst munchkin is at school etc) but the whole stack of cards would fall down at holiday time. Short of working in a school there seems no solution 🤨

I work in a fully flexible role, I can work from home, work varied hours as personal or business needs permit, it definitely fits with my family life. There is always a slight tension with line managers in my experience around the balance in flexible working between whether it should be flexible to benefit them or you.

The opportunity to buy back extra days or weeks holiday allowance from employers is also a valuable type of flexible working, especially for parents who find it a struggle to arrange holiday childcare.

The extra time rather than the money is held in a higher regard by some workers.

Flexible working means a workplace understanding our outside of work life- being able to pick up kids when they're sick, flexing our hours where required (ie taking kids to appointments), and being trusted to complete what needs to be done at a time that's convenient to me. I don't mind working after the kids are in bed if I've left work early for one reason or anther. I do think it works both ways, the employee needs to be flexible as well as the employer.

Trust
Recognition when I go above and beyond
Good IT

Flexible working sounds ideal, but it should never be used instead of decent, reliable childcare.

For me it's being able to choose my hours throughout the day. I like being in control of what I work. I also manage my own diary which really helps.

I work from home and we also have flexi hours, which will be fantastic as we welcome our first born into the world in November!

I am so lucky in that the job I do now (book-keeping/admin/customer service etc) is for a small online lighting business and I have a really accommodating MD/boss who allows me to work around school hours - but during covid-19 I've had to totally change my pattern and home-school daytime then work late afternoon and evening plus a few hours on Sunday to make up my 30 hours pw. It really does remove the stress when you work for a really great company/boss!

Flexible working means a job that fits in with school pick-up's and drop-off's, allowing me to be a mum and work, with a degree of flexibility over start and finish times. This would allow me to do both roles to the best of my ability, without feeling stressed.

To me it means being trusted by my employer to judge for myself how and when to meet my goals.

Flexible working to me means choosing the hours I want to work at a time the suits me best and that fits in with everything else in my day.

The most useful flexible arrangement I've had was when I working away from home. I was able to agree with the company for me to start midday on Mondays - sounds counterproductive - but it meant a loss of 3 hours which I spent travelling and easily made up staying an hour later at the end of the day (Tues, Weds, Thurs). This freed up a whole day at the weekend for me meaning I had 2 day weekends. Flexible working to me means the company is enlightened enough to look at new ways of achieving their objective and is open to your suggestions - and not just working from a list.

Really depends on your job, but working your usual hours but in a flexible way - starting work earlier and finishing later or completing your work in the evening whilst homeschooling during the day.
A lifeline during lockdown!!

What elements of ‘flexible working’ are most appealing to you?

the ability to work around what fits my family, so I can be there for them without my work output being compromised, so I can be the best I can at work too, my health both mental and physical are looked after by being able to work flexibly .

I can work from home when needed and also have flexible working hours. They are genuinely flexible also so no one judges you for actually working flexibly and it is actually actively encouraged.