The festive period is often a time of reflection. As December rolls around, we're sometimes haunted by the ghosts of Christmasses past. Of years when the office was festooned with tinsel and the wistful tones of Mariah Carey echoed around the departmental kitchen. This can go either way, of course. You might feel a touch of nostalgia for the years when reindeer sweaters were de rigueur at your Friday morning accounts meeting. You may, on the other hand, shudder at the memory of an office Christmas lunch of lukewarm turkey and soggy sprouts. Either way, this time of year has a habit of focussing the mind on the issue of RTO - the "Return To The Office".
What makes a good leader? How much impact do our senior managers really have on our day-to-day experience of work? And is the movement towards equality and flexibility for all really dependent on great chiefs?
In an attempt to smooth the path of our friends in the 9-2-3 community, we've put together some top tips to help you to return to work with confidence, and bag the best flexible jobs on the market in 2024. Read on for more details...
Ah, September. Month of blustery mornings. Of afternoons where the leaves crunch satisfyingly under your feet. Of endless confusion about the day on which PE kit is required. Don't you just love it?
We can't help but feel a flutter of excitement at this time of year. Possibly it's because of the sudden silence at home, or the reduced demands for snacks and screen time. Maybe you're celebrating the excuse to dig out cosy sweaters and to retreat inside with a book. Or perhaps it's the fact that the air is just that touch fresher, the colours that fraction richer. Everyone I pass is walking with a little bit more purpose in their steps. However old we are, as the new academic year rolls around, I think we all feel a little more driven - that it's time to set ourselves some new goals, and that we finally have the bandwidth and the space to achieve them.
Here at 9-2-3, we often talk about the challenges of balancing childcare with careers. Of how flexible working can help people with disabilities to access the workplace. About how flex can help older employees extend their working lives. But there's another group of employees out there whose place in the world of work is also increasingly under threat…
It was, as always, wonderful to see so many of the fantastic companies we work with or know at our "Flex: A Whole New World" event. As well as listening to some truly inspirational speakers, we had the chance to talk to many of you about the future of your businesses and how you see the world of flex moving forwards.
Whatever your working pattern of choice – part time work, remote work, compressed hours – there’s no question that flexible working has made a huge difference to our lives. Forget Biff, Chip and Kipper - for millions of us, flexibility has been the magic key to unlocking a better work-life balance. It’s enabled us to cheer on our kids at sports days. To provide a listening ear for elderly relatives. To volunteer in our communities. For some of us, flexible working is what makes our worlds go around.
As the New Year dawns, with the added joys of lockdown #3, you might be forgiven for thinking it’s a rather grey and uninspiring dawn. However, here at 9-2-3, we’ve been thinking about the months and years to come and we’re feeling hopeful about the post-pandemic landscape for businesses; there are definitely signs of a brighter future shining through the clouds.
THE FUTURE OF THE OFFICE
There is so much being discussed about the future of the office... How to make offices "Covid-safe" etc. But are we actually seeing the death of the office as we know it?
Have we outgrown the office?
It feels like we are witnessing era-defining moments in our workplaces.
The list of companies embracing home working policies is growing. Twitter has announced it's allowing staff to work from home “forever”. Faceboook is “aggressively opening up remote hiring”. Slater and Gordon (law firm) is to close its London base as staff gear up for working from home permanently from September onwards.
The boss of Barclays, Jes Staley, says "The notion of putting 7,000 people in a building may be a thing of the past"; while James Gorman, Morgan Stanley's chief said the bank will have "much less real estate" and has “proven we can operate with no footprint”. Businessman Sir Martin Sorrell said he'd rather invest the £35m he spends on expensive offices in people instead. While Ann Francke OBE (CEO of the Chartered Management Institute) says: “[This pandemic] may change the workplace forever.”
So it’s clear that remote work is here to stay long after the pandemic subsides. Quite apart from the health implications, study after study has shown open offices to foster seclusion more than innovation. Often in order to combat noise, the loss of privacy and the sense of being watched, people in an open office put on headphones, talk less, and feel terrible. But it’s not all bad. Done right, the office can enable collaboration and team spirit.
Here at 923 Jobs we've always loved the feeling of collaboration in our office - but always felt that more “deep work” was done in the (pre-Covid) peace of home. So tended to mix up working from home, with working in the office. We’ve always tried to focus on productivity over presenteeism.
There are clear benefits to businesses enabling remote working… Research in recent years points to reduction in office costs, increased productivity, easier to attract and retain staff (who take fewer sick days). Plus of course the benefit to employees of a reduced commute – something thousands of us have benefited from in recent months (#silverlining). Ordinarily 66% of commuters will feel stressed at least once a week – wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to alleviate this stress, and have a happier less flustered workforce? The thought of easing congestion in our towns and cities, and reducing our carbon footprint is also a huge plus.
So how about using offices as places to meet colleagues and clients? To collaborate. To catch up. To enjoy some real face-to-face time (remember that?). Afterall, we have proven that we can sit and look at a screen for 40 hours a week from home. Who needs to go into an office at set times to do that?
Moving forward, I'm hoping that companies are likely to be more accepting of employee requests to work from home. I'm always up for a chat if anyone wants a sounding board!
By Helen Wright (Founder of 9-2-3 Jobs)
Now, I know that a blog about the logistical challenges of implementing flex in the workplace is not the most inspiring topic in the world. As a passionate advocate of flexible working, it is all too easy for me to reel off reasons why it is so powerful. The benefits to business are not in dispute - proven advantages include a happier, more productive workforce, less sick days taken by staff, increased profits, I could (and on many occasions, do) go on …………… But what people don’t hear about quite so often is exactly HOW businesses make flexible working work within their organisation.
