What’s the problem?

Flexible and part-time workers tend to be occupationally segregated

Flexible working is rare at management and senior levels

Flexible and part-time working is female-dominated

Part-time work is generally low-paid

Overworked Stressed Undervalued part-time workers Part-time work does not offer opportunity

for part-timers to use their abilities

Hidden brain drain4/5 workers “working below potential”

Most common form of flexible working is part-time

How come part-time is so under-valued?

Part-timers working below their potentialNearly 3 million women aged 25 –54 are working part-time below their potential

30% say working below past potential 50% believe have higher latent potential Increasingly working PT at start of career Working below potential because:

- studying/ training for higher paid work 80% working below potential – women:

- “stuck in job”- combining PT work with caring

65% working below proven past potential- could easily work at higher level- 40% of them: men- 85% not in training/ not looking for other work

Many not want more intensive work- 46% have chosen less stressful jobs

25% held back because no opportunity in labour market- Not find work that uses experience & skills- No opportunity with current employers- Would prefer FT job, no chance with current employer- No suitable FT jobs in area

2m working below past potential1m say working below latent potential

88% women - ¾ combining PT with caring40% of male sample – combining with caring

Not in education to improve chances- “stuck in job”

Not chose PT career path, circumstances - only 15% work PT because it suits

(caring, less stress)

Training & job-hunting in Pt-ers working under potential

Constraints on job choice for 25–54 year old women

For employers Extending the range of flexibilities

within full-time work Broadening the range of part-time jobs

at more senior levels Re-designing jobs to ensure they can

draw in those with under-utilised talents who are currently driven to part-time work to avoid excessive stress.

Flexible working, full or part-time, is…

… available in all sectors and industries

… handled confidently and positively by line managers

… valued by employers and trade unions

… undertaken at all levels of organisations, including senior management

… easy to move in and out of… widely available on the open labour market

EmployerEmployeeEconomySociety

Enhance their ability to retain staff Improve morale, motivation and commitment

among employees Reduced stress and absence in their workforce Increase productivity, improving retention,

saving recruitment costs, helping with skill shortages, reducing stress related absence, improving motivation

Tapping into untapped potential in today’s part-time workers opening up higher level work to them

More opportunity to work to potential in better-paid jobs

Better work-life balance Remain with existing employers when need

to change hours or patterns of work Move to new work when they work flexibly

or part-time and move in and out of flexible and part-time working without penalty

Not suffer financial penalties, other than pro-rata reductions, from reducing hours

Best possible use of skills, qualifications and talent available

Better match between services required and labour market resources available

Reduction in government spending on stress-related illness

Greater social cohesion, health and success from reducing inequality and deprivation

Give children best possible start in lifegive families best chance of good health, education and relationships

Fathers playing a more active role in bringing up future generation

Better balance between male and female carers and role models, greatly enriching the lives of our young people

Managers’ skills & attitude Labour market flexibility Modernisation of job design

Good communication and trust is key for FW Encourage provision and take-up of training

in managing flexible workers. Realistic about what flexibility is possible,

go into negotiation well prepared Senior managers as champions for FW

help achieve management ‘buy-in’encourage take-up of FW policies.

training in business case for FW coaching to deal with flexible working

requests to be open-minded to new ways of working

case studies of different employees taking up various FW methodsbenefits to the business as well as individual

active support of senior management in promoting flexible working

Performance management“seeing” = “performing”objective-settinginputs v outputs

Communicationschedule briefings so Fwers not get

detacheduse of emails for regular contactstress face-to-face contact vitalconference calls

Multi-skillingteams cover for each otherself-roster

Building the organisation cultureFW = business as usual

Trustuse of objective measures of output

Fairness & consistencyseen to be fairacceptable for all groupsconsistent line managers’ attitudes

More help for labour market returnersfrom employers (if exist)from Government

to update skills or learn new ones Finance for training to older workers out of

work for less than six months Support for phased or delayed retirement

More effort and resource put into modernising job design

Trial periods used by employers to try out different forms of flexible working for workers

Impact on both business and individual evaluated openly and objectively

Responsibilities of employees, managers and HR: FW