A series of round table discussions held throughout the year, involving prominent senior representatives of over 25 Sussex, Surrey and South London based businesses, has resulted in a blueprint in successful implementation of flexible working.

Initiated by Emma Cleary of Flexibility Matters – a collection of crucial real life insights from varying sized and industry sector businesses has revealed that any perceived challenges in implementation of flexible working can be overcome with the right approach. With 87% of UK employees either working flexibly already or wanting to, it’s clearly essential for all businesses to properly embrace and implement it within their teams. Not only has it been proven that a flexible workforce improves productivity and decreases absenteeism, companies committing to flexible recruitment are undoubtedly attracting and retaining the best talent.

Discussions recognised that the key implementation challenges for most businesses were:
– Enabling the flexible working mindset to filter through multiple levels of management
– Managing the large variety of work patterns and different needs of regional offices
– Tackling tech, training and communication at a team level

To overcome these and fully realise the rewards of a flexible workforce, Flexibility Matters share some of the key strategies that make up the 10-point best practice guide here:

– A cultural core value shift that requires implementation from the very top, led by example and evident in CEOs and line managers working flexibly themselves
– Internal promotion of success stories regarding retention, talent and productivity, proving that flexible arrangements improve the bottom line
– A clear set of guiding principles, training and tool kits that enable and empower managers at all levels to navigate their own team’s varying work patterns and different needs
– Fostering a results-based culture rather than focusing on time spent at work – supporting managers with the tools to measure this
– An investment in technology that embraces both trading progression and new ways of working
– Training managers and teams on how to use agile working enabling technology such as Office 365, Open Chat and advanced performance management tools such as ‘Open Blend’
– Transparent website and promotional materials, highlighting the company’s flexible working practices, maternity and paternal leave
– Flexible working options to feature within role advertising to attract the best talent and at interview stage to establish an ideal work pattern that also meets the demands of the role

“From collating various flexible working strategy insights from key influential heads of Sussex, Surrey and South London based companies, we’re now in a strong position to be able to distribute a set of best practice guidelines for any size business to use,” enthused Emma Cleary, Director of Flexibility Matters. “We’re so thankful to everyone involved in getting flexible working highly placed within more business agendas.”

Get the full guide by visiting Flexibility Matters’ contact page and messaging “please can you send me the full 10-point best practice guide.