Flexible working is no longer a taboo and only for working mums, it is celebrated and enjoyed in the majority of work places.  There are lots of benefits to flexible/remote working for both employee’s and employer’s which everyone here at FWA enjoys.

Flexible working has many positive effects, the main one is a better work life balance. As found by an Acas 2019 study 53% of employee’s believe this is the most important issue currently in the work place.  Along with this flexible working can also help with mental health which is having a massive effect on the work place, according to the Health and Safety Executive October 2018 report the number of work-related stress, depression or anxiety absences was 595,000 and accounted for 44% of work-related ill health cases.

It has been proven that flexible working results in employee engagement, higher employee performance, staff retention and motivation.  These results are due to a trust being built between the employee and the employer among other things.  Although some may think flexible working is solely between the organisation and the employee, it depends a lot on team work to carry it off successfully and maintain constant communication.  It is vital that employees who work remotely, some or all the time, still feel part of the team.

This way of working is no longer seen only as an additional benefit and is now considered the norm.  It really can work for everyone, both women and men alike are now taking advantage of flexible working.  If you are an organisation and don’t have a flexible working policy in place, we would encourage you to think about it, as well as retaining staff it will also make your organisation more attractive to potential employees!