Competition over the best talent is incredibly fierce – © Drazen-iStock
About four million people have changed careers owing to a lack of flexibility at work while an estimated two million have left a job in the past year for the same reason, according to research.
As a result, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned that businesses may face a talent exodus if they fail to offer flexible working options.
What makes the option for flexible working so attractive to employees and jobseekers?
The CIPD’s latest report, which explores employee and employer perspectives towards flexible and hybrid working practices, highlights that offering flexible working is key to retaining and attracting staff, addressing the current skills shortage and fostering inclusive workplaces.
Following the pandemic, flexible working has become much more embedded in the world of work.
What should employers know about pending government employment rules?
The CIPD’s research shows that a growing number of organisations offer flexible working from day one of employment (39% in 2023 versus 36% in 2021) and 14% of those without this in place intend to do so before government legislation, announced in December 2022, takes effect.
But almost half (49%) of employers still aren’t aware of the pending legislation, which will make flexible working requests a day-one right, highlighting the need for more education and action among employers.
A poll of more than 4,000 senior decision-makers and employees by the CIPD – the professional body for HR and people development – also found:
- Employees with a disability or long-term health condition are significantly more likely to say they have left a job in the last year (21%) or changed their career/profession (32%) because of a lack of flexible working.
- 71% of workers view a flexible working pattern as important to them when considering a new role while 69% say the ability to work remotely is important.
- Two-fifths (40%) of employers have seen an increase in flexible working requests and a growing number of employers (66% vs 56% in 2021) believe it’s important to offer flexible working as an option when advertising roles.
- 65% of employers provide some kind of flexibility to their frontline workers.
However, there’s significant unmet demand from workers for more flexible hours arrangements, such as flexitime (17% currently use and 29% would use such arrangements if offered and possible in their role), term-time working (2% vs 8%), compressed hours (4% vs 18%), job-sharing (1% vs 4%) and annualised hours (3% vs 11%).
How can businesses avoid losing both existing staff and recruits?
Flexible working could help employers tackle skills shortages, says Claire McCartney, senior resourcing and inclusion adviser at the CIPD. “Many organisations are facing the dual challenges of skills shortages and talent retention issues, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, education, and hospitality. Our latest research reinforces that offering flexible working can go a long way towards tackling these problems, even in roles that are traditionally seen as non-flexible.
“There's a variety of flexible working practices organisations can offer for most roles, including flexitime, compressed hours, hybrid working, job-sharing and term-time working. By outlining flexible working options in job advertisements, employers can also open up recruitment to wider talent pools and create fairer and more inclusive workplaces. This transparency supports workers to ask for flexibility and helps to normalise the conversation for all groups.”
What advantages can incorporating flexible working offer employers?
Richard Prime co-CEO and co-founder at technical finance firm Sonovate, said: “Our research shows that over half of businesses admit that we’re in a candidate’s market so competition over the best talent is incredibly fierce and with two-thirds of businesses believing flexible offerings are crucial in this landscape, it’s no surprise that we’re in the midst of a race to offer the most attractive flexible practices.
“Rising living costs are forcing people to reassess how they work and how they can maximise their income – for an increasing number, this means moving to freelance or contract work so they can improve their earning potential.
“Businesses who help facilitate their employees’ shift to contract work are likely to reap the rewards in retaining key talent but also boosting commercial performance. However, it is not without its challenges. Initially, to implement these changes within an organisation, businesses will often need reliable access to funding to help them manage the cash flow needed for more frequent payments to workers and allow them to be more agile when responding to upcoming projects or workload.”
