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1 Manager's Toolkit for Flexible Working 2019 Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership

A Manager’s Toolkit for Flexible Working

SEPTEMBER 2019


Introduction and context

The Greater Manchester Workforce Collaborative is making comprehensive improvements in the way we work across our ten localities, so that we attract and keep the best people in our health and care system. To achieve this, we are collectively developing an employment offer which will help to deliver improved employment standards to the people who work in our organisations, whilst also supporting our ambitions as part of the GM Good Employment Charter and unified public services. Flexible Working is well researched as being both an employee benefit and good for business, it is also one area addressed in our employment offer. We know from speaking to employees across our systems that they are more motivated and feel more fulfilled in what they do, when they can influence how they work and when they have a greater sense of control over their working day. Statistically, it is also widely evidenced that employers with flexible working arrangements have reduced sickness, absenteeism and lateness that collectively leads to better patient outcomes and a belief that our services could enjoy greater productivity and success. As part of our focus, we commissioned Timewise, a national organisation with expertise in flexible ways of working to help us develop our approach and promote advocacy for flexible working. Together we created a flexible working toolkit to support managers to engage in conversations about flexible working and how this can work for their organisations and people. The toolkit does not replace current flexible working policies, it can simply be used to complement any existing policy and provide guidance and tools for managers to use with their team. The toolkit also outlines a set of principles and approach we want to take forward in Greater Manchester; valuing flexibility within our workforce, helping our employees to balance their work and personal life for the benefit of improved wellbeing for our residents. We hope you find this resource useful for exploring flexible working with your team and it supports you to deliver the Greater Manchester Employment Offer. Janet Wilkinson Director of Workforce Contents


Page

Why is flexible working important?

4

What types of flexible working do we support?

5

Principles and approach

7

How to…design a flexible job (template)

8

How to…know what to ask

10

How to...run a team session on flexible working (template)

13

How to…set up and manage a jobshare

15

How to…support remote working

17

How to...manage a flexible team

19

How to…hire flexibly

21

Case studies

23

Further reading and links

26


WHY IS FLEXIBLE WORKING IMPORTANT?

More and more people are looking to work flexibly; whether to help balance work and home commitments, to reduce travelling time or manage their health and wellbeing. A recent Timewise survey (https://timewise.co.uk/article/flexible-working-talent-imperative/) asked over 3000 employees whether flexible working mattered to them. The survey found that 63% of full-time workers already had access to flexible working, and 87% wanted it. The demand is there from both men and women, and is strongest in the younger generations:

The survey also asked about the reasons for wanting flexible work. For 29% this was around caring responsibilities, and 14% to help manage a health condition or disability. But the most common reason given was to give greater control over work life balance. People value the trust their employer shows them by allowing them to have control over their working patterns.

Increasing opportunities for flexible working will also help Greater Manchester to:

Give staff greater control over where and when they work, reducing stress and increasing their wellbeing and work life balance

Attract and retain a diverse and talented workforce that value working in a flexible an agile way

Run an efficient workforce and workspace, saving on estates where possible and making the most of the space available

Maximise technology solutions for how we work and stay connected Reduce staff time spent commuting, and the associated pollution, contributing to Greater

Manchester’s clean air targets Support for working carers and how we implement and embed the Greater Manchester

Working Carers Toolkit and Carer’s Passport.


WHAT TYPES OF FLEXIBLE WORKING DO WE SUPPORT?

There are a range of ways people can work flexibly, helping them to manage both work and home commitments. Flexible working will only be effective if the chosen flexible working pattern matches the requirements of the role and responsibilities. For example, a receptionist who is on the front desk cannot fulfil their day-to-day duties if they work from home and a nurse who works in a patient facing role and is shift-based is unlikely to operate effectively using a flexible start time. Both can however contribute in discussions to explore the range of ways their job can be flexed, including designing possible working patterns and solutions. What do we mean by a ‘flexible job’?

© Timewise Solutions, 2018

This introductory section sets out the range of ways people can work flexibly and highlights the difference between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ flexible working arrangements.


Formal vs. informal flexibility There are two ways to agree flexible working requests – formally, through an application process and contract change, and informally between an individual and line manager. The table below sets out the most common types of flexibility and indicates whether it needs to be treated as a formal or informal request. Formal requests are generally needed when there is a contractual or pay implication. You may still want informal arrangements recorded in writing if they are regular and to ensure that the applicant knows they will be regularly reviewed and amended in line with service delivery needs. Formal Flex Informal Flex

Part-time working Term-time working Annualised hours Unpaid leave Regular, fixed home/remote working

Occasional home/remote working Change to start/finish time Compressed hours Reasonable adjustments

e.g. return to work

Our guide to designing flexible jobs will help you identify which types of flexibility may match the role and service delivery requirements. Greater Manchester is also committed to supporting it’s working carers recognising that carers make a significant contribution to improving the well-being of people in Greater Manchester and reducing demand on a range of services. The Working Carers Toolkit has been developed to support organisations and employers in both formal and informal ways, including how an informal flexible approach to emergencies or health appointments can really support working carers and safeguard their annual leave.


PRINCIPLES AND APPROACH

These are the principles, and approach we want to take forward in Greater Manchester, valuing flexibility within our workforce, helping our employees to balance their work and personal life for the benefit of improved wellbeing for our residents. To make flexible working a success we have set out our approach as a manager and an employee responsibility (below). We recommend you use this approach alongside the “How to run a team session” on page 14.

As a Manager I will As a Team Member I will

Trust my team to do their job

Manage my time and be transparent about where and when I am working to meet my job responsibilities

Be clear of what is expected of my team and team members

Take responsibility to deliver my objectives

Support my team to develop their own flexible ways of working, balancing the needs of the organisation, team and individuals

Show consideration to colleagues and the organisation when developing flexible ways of working

Empower my team to make choices that support their effectiveness and wellbeing

Be pragmatic and accept it is not always possible to work the way I want

Be fair and inclusive in my approach, whilst recognising individual and role differences

Be an advocate of flexible working, supporting team colleagues to work in a flexible way whilst meeting the organisation and team priorities

Have regular conversations and reviews with my team about what is working and what needs to be in place

Stay connected with my manager, team, networks and stakeholder both remotely and regularly participating in face-to-face team activities as agreed

Have a focus on the outcomes of work produced

Flag any issues concerning my working arrangements and my ability to deliver promptly with my manager and others as necessary

Provide you with the support, guidance and opportunities for making flexible working a reality

To regularly participate in individual and team conversations so I can learn, develop and influence how we develop and design flexible working


HOW TO DESIGN A FLEXIBLE JOB

Consider the key role requirements Firstly, consider key objectives of this role, the key stakeholders and their needs. Once you understand these core requirements, you can then explore what flexibility would work well to fulfil them with the following three questions: WHERE does the work need to be done? As some roles are more suited to remote working than others, think about the importance of location and the impact that working elsewhere might have on, for example, team relationships and knowledge sharing. If the role can flex on WHERE it is delivered, you can offer options such as:

Working from home, either for part or all of the working week Working across different offices or from other locations.

WHEN does the work need to be done? Look into the peaks and troughs of the impacted team’s activity. This may include considering the pace and predictability of the work, or the amount of interdependence that exists between different roles. For example, if the role involves some out of hours work, this will affect how you can build in flexibility. If you can flex on WHEN, you can offer options such as:

Flexible start or finish times – adjusting the working day, either ad hoc or regularly Annualised flexibility – for example, not working in school holidays whilst working in a more

concentrated way at other times Compressed hours – such as working a 37.5-hour week across four days

This section will help you to identify the flexibility that can be offered in a role, either when you are recruiting to a vacancy or discussing a request for flexible working.


HOW MUCH work does the role involve and where else could the work go? Instead of assuming that every role needs a full-time solution, think about the critical tasks each role must deliver, and then work out how much time is required to achieve them. Then, if you are changing a full-time role into a part-time one, you will need to ascertain how to resource any tasks that do not fit within the available time. Can they be delegated or covered by other team members? And, if you are designing a job share, working out how to split the responsibilities and manage handovers will be key. Remember, reducing hours will also impact pay and benefits so there will need to be a formal change to the individual’s contract. If you can flex on HOW MUCH, you can offer options such as:

Part-time work – such as working a three-day week Job sharing or job splitting – for example, two people sharing a full-time role, each working

three days a week Periods of unpaid leave.

The ‘Practical Tools for Managers and Teams’ below can help you to review roles in your organisation, when you’re advertising a vacancy or agreeing a flexible working request. Front line practitioners/roles When it comes to discussing work scheduling and shift patterns, we recommend managers take the same approach outlined in the toolkit. Utilising the tools and conversations provided, you can engage staff and explore potential opportunities for balancing flexibility and choice against business priorities. We recognise that flexible working for front line staff needs to focus on predictability of working patterns, maximising technology and designing ways of working that are fit for the roles. Using the tools provided can help you to have meaningful conversations with staff, contributing to greater insight into how improvements in job design and work scheduling can be improved, without any negative impact on work priorities or business outcomes. It is anticipated that any further work and subsequent learning about flexible working and front-line practitioners will be added and contribute to shaping updates in this toolkit for the future.

To help employers think more strategically about the management of atypical workers and to ensure working arrangements are fair, and flexibility works for both the organisation and the individual, the CIPD has published new guidance. The guidance sets out how employers can implement a good proposition, and recommends the starting point is for organisations to consider carefully the business requirements for workforce flexibility and the different ways of achieving this.

New measures are also being introduced by government to combat one-sided flexibility and support variable hours workers. The government announced in October 2019 its consultation paper: Measures to address one-sided flexibility that it is to legislate to give all workers the right to switch to a more predictable work pattern.


HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO ASK

KEY ROLE REQUIREMENTS

What is the purpose of the role? What are the key deliverables of the role? How will output be measured? Who are the stakeholders and what do they need?

WHERE?

What do the stakeholders expect by way of presence? Team cohesion: how often does the whole team need to be together, in the same room? How will the team communicate and share knowledge?


WHEN?

When does the individual need to be available to their stakeholders? Could this role incorporate flexibility around start or finish times, compressed hours or

annualised flexibility (such as term-time only)? Can anyone else substitute when the role-holder isn’t there? If so, who would that be?

HOW MUCH? (in addition to the ‘when’ questions)

Where else might some of the workload go? Can some tasks be stopped? Could this role be fulfilled on a part-time basis or include an element of unpaid leave? Would job-sharing be possible in this role?

© Timewise Solutions, 2018


Let your team and potential job applicants know the flexibility you can offer Once you are clearer on the flexible working options you can consider, this can help you in discussions with current team members when they request flexibility, or when recruiting new team members. There are many candidates out there looking for flexible roles, so do describe the flexibility options on offer in your job advert and let people know in interviews. Top Tips

Think creatively of how requests can be accommodated or negotiated

Explore with the person any requests for flexibility, as it is important not to make presumptions and to explore the request in detail

Carefully consider how a request might work in practice and the benefits for both the person, the wider team and the work programme

Assess any requests against existing and future work priorities as this will help you to negotiate and reach a positive solution

Seek advice if required from HR or engage support from another manager who has positive experience in supporting flexibility and establishing a flexible team

Build in trial periods to any changes to working patterns, so that both sides can review how it is working

Consider any working carers in your team and refer to the GM Working Carers Toolkit and the GM Carer’s Passport for guidance

Be clear and able to provide an explanation of any ‘red lines’ for what you cannot accommodate

Ensure you consider the impact on the team of a flexible working request, to guard against them feeling like they are ‘picking up the slack’

Make sure you still have pathways for career development for flexible workers. It is important to ensure flexible progression opportunities are offered wherever possible

Make best use of available IT solutions and opportunities for remaining connected e.g. request that online calendars are updated and made accessible to the wider team

Avoid any potential for micro managing from afar, dealing with any concerns you may have in a timely and open manner, ensuring this does not compromise or affect others in the team who also work flexibly

Respect others’ working hours e.g. do not expect colleagues to respond to emails out of hours.


HOW TO RUN A TEAM SESSION ON FLEXIBLE WORKING

A great way to ensure that flexible working helps deliver your objectives is to get the team involved in a discussion around how to improve your ways of working. The outline below will help you run a session with your team to explore how you can further embrace and benefit from flexible working.

ACTIONS NOTES

Pre-Session

Book a meeting in the diary when all your team can attend (c2 hrs)

Ensure you have space for some small group-work

Materials Flip-chart & flip-chart pens

At Session

Introduction Scene setting - Already a good example of a flexible working

employer - But how can we work even more flexibly for the

benefit of employees and our organisation?

Purpose To identify benefits of building on our flexible working best practice

To identify any barriers to building on flexible working in our team

To build on benefits and minimise barriers Suggested Exercise Divide your team into 2 groups and give them 10 mins to brainstorm:

- Group A: Identifies the benefits of flexible working (or home-working or whatever aspect of flexible working you want to explore)

- Group B: Consider the barriers of flexible working (or home-working or whatever aspect of flexible working you want to explore)

The next part of this exercise builds on this (allow 20 mins): - Group B is then asked to look at the benefits that

Group A has identified and consider how to apply them successfully

- Group A is asked to consider the barriers Group B has identified and recommend ways to overcome these barriers

Then in plenary (20 mins), share the feedback from both groups and summarise, with a focus on how to make it work.

Defining Protocols Agree the way we will work best together flexibly


Protocols help give a framework for how teams work together (i.e. a guide, best practice). (10/15 mins)

- What are our general team flexible working protocols e.g. best time for meetings? How to communicate with remote workers? How will we ensure someone is available in the office when needed?

- What are the obstacles we will have in implementing these?

- What do we need to do next to ensure these flexible working protocols become a way of life?

- Consider in feedback and key points/criteria

Actions List and assign actions from the session

Post-Session Follow-up on Protocols and Actions

- Consider a creative way of agreeing and presenting the Flexible Working Protocol

- Each team member to consider his/her own way of responding and role modelling

- Summarise what will you see, hear and feel team members doing

Closing remarks


HOW TO SET UP AND MANAGE A JOBSHARE

Types of jobshare

The first key point to remember is that you can set up a jobshare in different ways, depending on the people you have, the role they are doing and the budget available:

1. Traditional jobshare – two people cover a single role between them, with a handover at the midpoint of the week. Team management, where applicable, and key tasks are jointly owned. The success of this type of jobshare depends on having two individuals who work well together, owning each other’s decisions and taking a fair share of the work.

2. Job split – an alternative is to split the key tasks within a role with one person leading on

some areas, and the other person on other areas. It is still useful if they have a working knowledge of each other’s tasks. More akin to two-part timers, this can work well when the two individuals have differing skillsets or experience (and so you potentially want to pay them a different amount).

3. Other approaches – jobshares can be used to cover 6 or 7 day a week role e.g. one

working Monday to Thursday, one working Friday to Sunday. They can also be used to provide in-role mentoring, with a more experienced (for example, pre-retirement) person covering some elements of the role part time while upskilling their junior colleague.

Recruiting a jobshare Jobshares can come about in a few different ways but the most common are:

Two individuals find each other and approach a manager to take them as a pair, either their existing manager or by applying for a vacancy.

A current employee wants to work part time, and the organisation advertises the remaining

half of the role internally or externally. If you do this, its good practice to get the current post holder involved in the recruitment process as ‘fit’ with their jobshare partner is so important to the jobshare success.

A jobshare is when two people cover one role between them. This guide will give you a basic introduction to jobshares – what they are, options for setting them up, and tips for recruitment and ongoing management. Whilst jobsharing can seem a little unusual to managers at the start, the benefits in terms of two sets of expertise and ideas, fresh energy during the week and built in holiday cover, usually outweigh the cons.


If you are open to receiving applications from a jobshare, do let candidates know in the job advert. Also, consider in advance what might need to be different about the recruitment process:

Will you interview the individuals separately or together (or both)? What will you do if one individual is more capable and qualified than the other? It is

unusual to have jobsharers paid different amounts, so a job split may be more appropriate in this case.

Have you got budget available to cover the handover, and how much? Many jobshares work really well when both individuals are in together one day a week, but this means a 1.1 or 1.2 FTE headcount is needed.

Top Tips

The key to great jobsharing is good communication between the two individuals, and with their manager, so ensure there are opportunities and tools for this whether face-to-face or electronically

Invest a bit of extra time at the start of the arrangement to ensure all stakeholders are clear on how the jobshare will work for example, will the sharers split or share team management and individual client relationships? Will they have one-to-one catch ups together or individually?

Build in regular reviews of the arrangement to ensure workload is being split equally in

practice and that any communication issues are ironed out quickly

Use IT to support the arrangement – shared email accounts, shared systems, shared documents. etc

Encourage the jobsharers to plan their holidays at different times, so that you benefit

from the built-in cover

Ensure you are developing both people as individuals as well as together, for example considering their individual training needs and career aspirations

Discuss up front what will happen if one person decides they want to leave or go full

time. For example, will you support the other individual by offering a part time role or recruiting another job share partner?


HOW TO SUPPORT REMOTE WORKING

Steps to follow

1. Consider the tasks within a role which will be best done away from the office

When helping someone consider remote working, a good place to start is to think about which elements of the role lend themselves to remote working, and which involve being in the workplace. For example, many ‘thinking’ tasks, such as report writing or analysis, are easier in a quiet environment where you can concentrate with limited interruptions.

2. Ensure that you are setting outcome-based objectives

A key part of remote working is trust. Are you clear as a manager how you judge someone’s performance and are they clear what is expected of them? If you are not sitting next to a team member day-to-day, you need to agree what they will deliver, to what standard, and by when. It is also useful to understand what support they need from you or others to be effective in their role, and how they will let you know of any day-to-day issues. Investing the time to do this regularly ensures they can be productive without needing to check in with you every day.

3. Encourage the individual to consider the right environment for them to work productively

As discussed above, remote working works well for many people when they have tasks they want to concentrate on. However, some people will choose to work from home when it does not suit their home environment, for example people in house shares or with young children at home. It is useful to consider other alternative work locations, such as a library. Key considerations are:

Availability of reliable internet connection Privacy of work, particularly important for calls Suitable desk and chair, to support good posture Quiet environment, conducive to effective working.

One of the most common and popular ways of working flexibly is to work remotely, from home, another office or any suitable location. As a manager, it is useful to consider how to get the best out of your team whilst they are working remotely, exploring technology solutions.


4. Agree how you will keep in touch

If someone is regularly working remotely, ensure you agree how you will stay in touch. This is particularly important for remote workers to have clarity on when they will have access to support to unblock any problems or report on progress. It is also important to ensure that the individual is fully contactable by you and the wider team, whilst they are working remotely, and that they mark any periods when they are unavailable in their diary. This helps with transparency and trust.

5. Agree regular reviews

Keep reviewing how the remote working arrangements are working, for both sides, to ensure that there is no negative impact on their ability to perform their role. As work or personal demands change, you may want to agree changes to location – for example if their role involves a greater need for face-to-face contact, or if new systems make more tools available out of the office. Formally review how flexible working is being experienced at the regular PDR meeting.

Top Tips

Spend longer than usual defining what good looks like, to ensure that you agree

Plan and stick to a schedule of team meeting times and encourage everyone to attend, even if it means swapping their working days around

Use a range of communication tools to keep in-touch

Build in time for small talk, on phone or face-to-face, as it is important for relationship building and team cohesion

Pass on plenty of praise for a job well done as remote workers often miss out on this type of contact

Avoid the potential for micro managing from afar, dealing with any concerns you may have in a timely and open manner, ensuring this does not compromise or affect others in the team who also work flexibly.


HOW TO MANAGE A FLEXIBLE TEAM

Steps to follow

1. Be clear on who your stakeholders are and their needs in relation to your team

The key to an effective flexible team is ensuring that you can deliver the expected outcomes to a high standard, whilst giving individuals more freedom around when and where they are working. Being clear on your stakeholders’ needs for contact and communication, particularly when it needs to be face-to-face or virtual, can help get this right.

2. Take a team approach Getting the whole team on board with a team discussion around flexible working has multiple benefits. Firstly, it helps everyone feel that flexible working is relevant to them (rather than just for ‘carers’). Secondly, it creates greater shared accountability for delivery. Finally, it will get everyone involved in negotiating how the team’s work will be covered. For example, how do we ensure we always have someone in the office, or who will be our key contact point on a Friday.

3. Acknowledge the there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution

One of the criticisms of some flexible work arrangements is that they are not ‘fair’ because they are not the same for everyone. However, this is because every role is likely to have its own flexibility boundaries based on the nature of the work, in particular customer/service functions, and because the rest of the team does need to be taken into consideration. You can help create a sense of fairness by having a clear policy, giving everyone the opportunity to talk about the way they like to work and considering all requests seriously. And it’s ok to have different flexible working arrangements in place in different teams as the service requirements may be different.

4. Think about how communication will flow across the team

If you do have a team with varied work patterns, consciously identify how communication will flow so that everyone is kept up to date and involved. How often do you need to get together as a whole team face-to-face and what can be done via phone / email? Involve the team in thinking this through, including how often they want to get together informally. Social contact is an important part of work to maintain, particularly for people who work from home a lot.

The purpose of this guide is to help you to make sure that the flexible working you have in your team meets the needs of the team members and service delivery. Flexible teams, who operate with high levels of trust, can be highly productive and our top tips will help you to make sure you see these benefits.


5. Work out how technology can support you (or acknowledge if it’s a restriction)

There are many great sharing platforms now so people can keep in touch, or share documents, virtually. You may need to experiment with what works best for your team and for individuals. For example, try out a team meeting via both Skype and a conference call and take a vote. It also works well to keep all team documents and communications in a shared, well-organised folder that is accessible remotely.

Top Tips

Let people know about team meetings well in advance so that they can shift their working days as required

Set clear, measurable outcome-based objectives, and spend longer than usual defining what good looks like, so that individuals you won’t see for a while have clarity on their responsibilities and when to get in touch

Use a range of communication tools to keep in-touch. Agree amongst the team their preferred channels for different types of communication.

Agree how often you want to get together informally / socially which is important for team cohesion

Make time for small talk with team members who are not in the office every day – it’s a key part of building relationships.

Build in team considerations – the decision to work flexibly impacts team members so there must be room to compromise of working patterns if this negatively impacts others.


HOW TO HIRE FLEXIBLY

Steps to follow

1. Consider what kinds of flexibility you can offer.

Before advertising, consider what types of flexibility would well in the role. Can you flex on:

Where someone works e.g. remote working or another site working When someone works e.g. flex start / finish, compressed or annualised hours How much someone works e.g. part time, jobshare, term time.

Our ‘How to…. consider flexible job design’ section above offers more information.

2. Make the flexibility offer clear in the job advert.

We have standard wording around flexibility available that you can include in the text of your job advert. We also recommend looking at what you are putting at the top of adverts around hours / working pattern and including ‘happy to discuss flexible working’ or more specifically the flexibility you can offer (e.g. ‘full time but open to occasional home working / flex start and finish time’).

3. Remind candidates in interviews that you are really happy to consider requests for flexible working

You can also mention in interviews that we are a flexible working organisation, to help candidates understand our culture and whether it would work for them. However, hold off getting into an in-depth conversation about their preferences until the offer stage.

The purpose of this document is to explain how you can communicate to potential candidates, and recruit people, who want to work flexibly. Offering your jobs flexibly is a key way to attract people with a diverse range of skills and experience and reflects the way we want to work in our organisation, so we would encourage you to offer all your jobs as open to flexibility unless there is a compelling reason not to.


4. Discuss with them at offer stage their working pattern preferences

The best time to explore what the candidate is looking for is at the job offer stage, when you can negotiate openly having established already they are a good fit for the role requirements. This prevents any concerns that their request for a particular working pattern influenced your decision over appointing them or not. Be prepared to negotiate to find an arrangement, which will work for both sides. It is also worth discussing how much they should be in the office initially, during their induction, when it is important for someone to be spending more time with colleagues in order to learn.

5. Make reviewing working patterns a part of your regular one-to-ones

As your new team member settles in, make sure that you check in regularly to review their progress and tweak working patterns if needed. Informal arrangements, such as flex start / finish times or working from home, may become more achievable once someone has been in post long enough to have established relationships and learnt the key responsibilities on the job.

Top Tips

Broaden the places you advertise jobs to ensure you are reaching a wide audience

If a role really is full time, it is still worth mentioning that you are open to remote working or flexing start and finish times, as these are very attractive to many candidates

During the interview and offer stage, give examples of what flexible working looks like in practice in your team

Use trial periods if you are not sure whether an arrangement will work. Remember its ok to say no if something really won’t work but try to suggest an alternative.


CASE STUDIES

There are already a lot of great employers who are really embracing flexible working and well on the way to integrating this approach in to their own organisations. Case study: Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council was one of the first Councils in the country to embrace flexible working in 2007 when staff were moved to a new temporary site. This was a time of huge change - staff moved to an 8:10 desk ratio, networked computers and follow you printing, and the Council launched flexible working initiatives such as working from along with a clear desk policy. However, in the context of budget cuts and large-scale staff reductions, momentum for the strategy waned. Fast forward to 2017, and Manchester’s Town Hall is about to be closed for 7 years for renovation. This required the relocation of 450 staff into the existing estate providing the perfect opportunity to revisit flexible working and modernise the Council as an employer. Their new approach, Our Ways of Working (OWOW), brought together resources from Human Resources, IT and Estates. These teams considered together how they could change the physical office environment, the digital infrastructure, and working practises to ultimately shift the culture within the organisation and make Manchester City Council a flexible and modern employer. They recognised this needed to be led from the top and a key early milestone was the relocation of the Strategic Management Team from individual offices to an open plan office within one of their key sites. For the past 2 years the team have worked with the most senior managers in the organisation to ensure there is a shared understanding of flexibility, they have reviewed flexible working policies and tested a number of formal and informal flexible arrangements across a large number of service areas.


What have they learned? One size does not fit all. The needs of individual employees and of each service differs massively and they cannot have a blanket approach. They are clear that service to residents comes first but within each team they look at what is possible and some services embrace all or some of the following; different work locations for staff to support out of work obligations, reduced working hours, agile working, informal arrangements to support caring commitments. They believe in the benefits of a good work/life, and so are committed to ensuring that all staff have access to some level of flexibility in their role. The Manchester City Council team have now approached the end of Phase 1 of OWOW. They have examples in every directorate of modernised working, however there is still much work to be done and momentum to be kept up. The Council has achieved Timewise accreditation and continuing to drive forward the work will be key to the success of the initiative. This includes reviewing their role profiles to further champion flexible working as an option within their roles. Work is also underway to review how they can better offer flexible working options to social workers. Phase 2 is about to start, and the Council wants to support services where flexibility is trickier, to test some initiatives.

Case study: Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)

As many as 9 out of 10 people now want to work flexibly and because of this many more businesses are now offering flexible working options as incentives for prospective employees. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has partnered with the GM Chamber of Commerce to launch the Working Differently campaign to raise awareness of the economic and employee wellbeing benefits of flexible working. Flexible, or dynamic working not only helps to alleviate demand on the transport network during the morning and evening peaks but it also benefits employees. The new campaign recognises that all businesses need to adapt if they are to remain competitive and attract and retain talented employees. As part of this campaign, TfGM are running a series


of workshops which provide useful insights into how dynamic ways of working are already benefiting many businesses across the region, as well as offering support and advice to help business to get started. TfGM explains in this campaign the cumulative effect of economic growth in Greater Manchester which:

Places more and more pressure on the existing transport network, increased demand on our roads and public transport, resulting in an increase in congestion and poor air quality. Left untouched this could deter investment, affect productivity and limit our ability to attract and retain talent in the future. Manchester is growing rapidly and every year, hundreds of new businesses and tens of thousands more people choose to live and work here. Without question, we’re now an increasingly successful city region competing on a global stage.

Estimates that congestion costs the local economy around £1.3 billion each year in lost time and productivity, not to mention that the air pollution that it creates contributes to the equivalent of 1,200 deaths a year in Greater Manchester and that despite Greater Manchester having a long-term transport strategy to deliver world class connectivity for our city region. The reality remains that it needs the right powers and funding, and even then, this transformational change won’t take place overnight.

The critical leadership role business can to play in supporting us all to work differently, to

reduce the number of trips taking place at peak times, freeing up capacity for those sectors – like retail, service and manufacturing – which often have fixed hours of operation. Small changes can make a huge difference.

In the meantime, we need to make the most of our existing infrastructure and consider

what changes we can all make to reduce our impact on congestion and continue to support our growing economy.

For more information about the campaign, TfGM, alongside industry experts are running a series of workshops which provide useful insights into how dynamic ways of working are already benefiting many businesses across the region as well as offering helpful advice to help your businesses to get started. If you’d like to get involved in a future workshop and would like to find out more about how you can benefit from working differently, you can do so by contacting the Sustainable Journeys team on [email protected].


FURTHER READING AND LINKS Government legislation on flexible working, including the Right to Request https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working Research on the demand for flexible working https://timewise.co.uk/article/flexible-working-talent-imperative/ An ACAS guide to pros and cons of different types of flexible working: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/3/1/Flexible_working_and_work_life_balance_Nov.pdf Further guidance on jobsharing https://hbr.org/2013/09/how-to-make-a-job-sharing-situation-work https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/dec/30/how-to-make-job-sharing-work Further guidance on managing flexible teams https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/nov/22/guide-managing-flexible-workforce Further guidance on flexible hiring https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/flexible-hiring-guidance_tcm18-52767.pdf Transport for Greater Manchester - Working Differently campaign https://tfgm.com/travel-choices/business/working-differently Good Employment Charter https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/economy/greater-manchester-good-employment-charter/ A Greater Manchester Working Carers Toolkit http://www.gmhsc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/10b-Greater-Manchester-Support-to-Carers-Appendix-B-Greater-Manchester-Working-Carers-Toolkit.pdf


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