What is going on with Flex? If you search online, there are many more hybrid opportunities but what about the rest? Let’s remind ourselves of the different forms flexible working can take and whether you can find or need to create opportunities for yourself…
Hybrid working - The hybrid offer is a definite improvement but the majority of roles offered are full time. This is great for those who want a traditional role. It means less commuting and therefore more personal time and retains the positive side of office working, the social and collaborative qualities. It also moves us closer, as a society, to outcome-based work i.e. achieving the aims of your role rather than working contracted hours. New versions have sprung up. We have Fixed Hybrid - set office days and Fluid Hybrid - choose your office days. LinkedIn Jobs now describes traditional working practices as ‘on-site’!
Where can you find this? Widely advertised on conventional job sites.
Part-time working - On the one hand, companies like Zurich Insurance declare that all their jobs are open to part-time working (hurrah!), on the other hand, the 2022 Timewise survey found that only 14% of jobs were advertised as part time last year and most of these were lower paid.
Where can you find this? Start with specialist agencies and job sites for flexible working and employers with good credentials e.g. The Times Best Places To Work, those participating in the Four Day Week experiment, Glassdoor reviews…
Four Day Week - More pay, fewer hours. Again better for traditional workers, as it doesn’t help parents manage the short school day or deal with regular responsibilities such as elder care. It could support parents with nursery-age children, allowing them to spend a day at home, without losing pay.
Where can you find this? Still relatively unusual but the Four Day Week global experiment comes to an end soon and the resulting publicity should help to make this more commonplace.
Remote working/Work From Anywhere - Employees work all of their working week at a location remote from the employer's workplace. Sometimes employers specify that this must be UK-based (Work From Anywhere - Remote with regular meetings), but not always (100% Remote).
Where can you find this? Start-ups and tech companies are good. Try Otta jobs and workinstartups.com. Footloose and fancy-free? Or perhaps the family needs a little adventure. How about working abroad then? Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Portugal offer Digital Nomad visas allowing non-EU nationals to live and work there (for a limited period of time).
Networking/support opportunities: LinkedIn and Facebook groups. Search ‘remote working’ or ‘digital nomads’. Avoid anywhere that’s pushing MLM jobs (Younique etc.). You’re worth so much more!
Job sharing - A job share is where you divide a role between two people and it can be a great way to return to professional work on a flexible basis. It can provide genuine flexibility, which other flexible options may not. For instance, part-timers working a 4 day week may in fact find they are working a full-time 5 day job over fewer days. Great for mid-level roles and starting to be seen with higher-level roles too.
Where can you find this? Roleshare and Duome are online matching services. Job sharing is increasingly supported in Higher Education.
Compressed hours - Compressed working weeks (or fortnights) don't necessarily involve a reduction in total hours or any extension in individual choice over which hours are worked. The central feature is a reallocation of work into fewer and longer blocks during the week, usually full-time over fewer days.
Flexitime - Allows employees to choose, within certain set limits, when to begin and end work.
Annualised hours - the total number of hours to be worked over the year is fixed but there is variation over the year in the length of the working day and week. Employees may or may not have an element of choice over working patterns.
Where can you find these? Compressed hours, flexitime and annualised hours are occasionally advertised but more often or not you’ll need to request this at interview and make a business case for it.
Term time - a worker remains on a permanent contract but can take paid/unpaid leave during school holidays.
Where can you find this? Schools, obviously, but not everyone wants to work in a school office or as a TA. Think about targeting other organisations that are especially quiet in July and August e.g. commercial training companies, universities, law schools etc. You may still have to ask as these roles are advertised but they’re scarce.
There are advertised flexible opportunities beyond full-time hybrid roles, but you need to target your search and consider asking for what you want. If you’d like to talk about your specific career clarity or job search needs, please book a free career consultation.