Executive summary.
- The sickness absence rate in the UK rose to 2.6% in 2022, the highest rate since 2004.
- Total annual costs to the UK economy of lost output among working-age people due to ill health have been estimated at £150bn, with employee absence costing the UK economy up to £41bn each year.
- Flexible working can support employees to work well, balancing work and personal lives and mitigating stressors that drive absence.
- The value of flexibility has long been recognised in the policy sphere, including the recent announcement by the UK Government in late 2022 of day one rights for requesting flexible working.
- Flexible working has expanded significantly. Around two-in-five working adults now report performing some work at home, and similar proportions are recorded for flexible working hours (Annual Population Survey, 2023; Wheatley, 2023).
- However, one-in-ten workers report not knowing whether certain flexible working arrangements are available to them (Wheatley, 2022).
- This research identifies the necessary steps to realise the benefits of flexible working, including for workplace well-being, for both employer and employee.
Policy recommendations
- Create guidelines for organisations on how to increase awareness of flexible working policies and actively promote the benefits of their use.
- Develop training programmes and toolkits for line managers and leaders to increase organisational capabilities and enable effective co-ordination of flexible working to ensure it fulfils the needs of the individual, while enabling fit with the needs of the team and wider organisation.
- Create guidance on how to move away from one-size-fits-all policies and practices towards a tailored approach offering employees choice, agency and voice in decision-making, while accommodating different stakeholder needs.
- Promote the adoption of ‘inclusive flexibility’ centring on how to increase workforce diversity and inclusivity through the creation of a more flexible workplace.
- Communicate the importance of flexible working practices working for both the employer and employee. For example, use of core hours or onsite days in hybrid working should be approached carefully. Mandated presence on fixed days delivers less flexibility to the individual and may not create efficiencies at team/function level, e.g., where employees work across teams all members of one team being allocated the same mandated onsite days will create gaps in availability.
About the research
This research investigates the employee well-being benefits of navigating the adoption of flexible working including remote and hybrid working. This large, multi-year project has included research investigating applications in large organisations with diverse functions and within SMEs. The research has incorporated analysis of social surveys including Understanding Society, employee surveys including the CIPD’s UK Working Lives Survey, evaluation of flexible working and employee well-being through data collected in focus groups held with employees, managers, and the senior leadership team at the UK business of a multinational organization, and international case study evidence.
Raising awareness of flexible working to mitigate absence, presenteeism and turnover
The research finds that lack of awareness continues to limit the effectiveness of flexible working policies. Not all employees are fully aware that they can request to work flexibly and of the arrangements available at their employer, and/or do not always feel able to request flexible working.
Levels of awareness and perceived availability and autonomy over decisions to work flexibly often vary considerably at local level, in part reflecting the influence of local line management.
The role of line manager and senior leader buy-in
The role of line managers was highlighted as having significant impacts on levels of awareness, perceived availability, and implications of the use of flexible working arrangements.
Findings emphasise that line managers and leaders who are unsupportive of flexibility or themselves lack understanding engender an organisational environment in which flexibility is perceived negatively and often to only be applicable to employees with caring responsibilities or other needs. However, this limited perspective reflects a missed opportunity in realising the benefits of flexible working.
Inclusive flexibility and responsible autonomy
Flexibility can be an effective tool to increase inclusivity as it enables employers to increase workforce diversity by creating opportunities for those who may find it challenging to engage in standard work routines. Adoption of remote and hybrid work expands the geographical labour pool available to employers increasing labour market opportunities.
Greater autonomy enacted through employee-led flexibility generates dual benefits for employer and employee including improved engagement and performance. Further benefits for employees include enhanced job satisfaction and well-being derived from the ability to better manage work alongside other demands and autonomy over the tasks, timing and location of work.
Conclusion
Flexibility has become the defining feature of the modern work landscape, including the expansion of remote and hybrid working patterns since the Covid-19 pandemic and technological advancements.
The adoption of ‘inclusive flexibility’ offers an effective method of supporting employee well-being, giving the employee agency over their working routines and enabling better management of work alongside other demands.
Flexible working has the potential to deliver benefits, but this requires buy-in from line managers and leaders.
Contact
Dr Daniel Wheatley, Reader in Business and Labour Economics, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham
d.wheatley@bham.ac.uk
Download the accessible Word document.