Last week I attended an excellent event hosted by Lucy Chamberlain who co-owns C&C Search with her brother Ed Chamberlain. Hosted in the City, it was a breakfast session with an incredible panel.
- Vanessa Vallely OBE - International Speaker, Entrepreneur, Author & Founder of WeAreTheCity
- Anna Whitehouse - Sunday Times Bestselling Author, Heart Radio Presenter & Founder of Mother Pukka
- Steph Douglas - Founder of Don't Buy Her Flowers & Author of 'Sisterhood & All That' blog
- Debra Ward -Founder of FTSE 100 Mitie Client Services , International Entrepreneur & Managing Director of Camm & Hooper
The event was to discuss the benefits of working in a flexible way is the reasons it is right for all. This is about more than just mothers. I was surprised to learn that men’s flexible working requests are twice as likely to be rejected than a woman’s. Something we talk about here on WoMo is the importance of a woman owning her journey and this came through in the debate. Women having confidence in their own potential is the difference that can make the difference, and a sponsor to champion her can aid career success. Women need to stand up and speak up, voicing what they want.
When we think about flexible working there is a bigger universal impact at play here. We know commuting can be dead time in terms of productivity and it can be bad environmentally. If you use your commute for your own time, listening to pod casts, reading the paper and setting yourself up for the day, and that works for you, then great! But we know we see many people working on the way to and from work. Where is the down time? Working from home gives us all down time. Time to think and a breathe from the commute. Whether you are a mother, a carer, a father or someone who wants to exchange your commute time for a trip to the gym a couple of times a week, we can ALL benefit.
How can we help our teams work more effectively and be their authentic self, which in turn will produce greater productivity? A great suggestion given by the panel was to ask each member of your team: How can I help you work better? Listen and help make it happen. Be that line manager!
Changing the way we work is how we empower and trust employees. Permitting flexibility in how people run their day, will improve wellbeing, give people time for outside work activities (even if during the working day) and increase engagement levels in the organisation. Some jobs do need to be done in person, others can have greater flexibility. And where it can be given, why not?
Yes there will be the odd person who abuses the trust, but that is more about a hiring decision, and making sure the right person is in the right job. We know stress levels and anxiety are a challenge in the workplace, lets ALL think how we make this better.