Fully flexible Employers improve recruitment and retention at twice the rate of those requiring full-time office attendance

COUNCIL NEWS

AUGUST 2023

Fully flexible Employers improve recruitment and retention at twice the rate of those requiring full-time office attendance

A recent report called The Flex Index analysis - based on 2022-23 data from more than 4,500 Employers – found that fully flexible Employers, those who allowed 100% home working by their Employees, were able to improve recruitment by 5.6% over the last 12 months.  In comparison, firms with a hybrid approach to office / home working grew headcount by 4.1% and those with a full-time in-office structure only grew headcount by 2.6%.  This could be interesting news within the Town / Parish Council sector, where recruitment and retaining good staff has been a problem for a number of years.

The report also found that there is variance in recruitment depending on what flexible approach an organisation uses:

·       Fully remote Employers have grown headcount the fastest over the last 12 months (6.9% growth).

·       Firms that allow employees to choose how they work grew headcount by 5%.

·       Employers that specified a minimum number of days in the office each week grew headcount by 4.3%.

·       Employers that wanted staff in on specific days saw headcount rise by 3.8 per cent.  This can be an issue for Town / Parish Councils, where attendance in the office for some specific times during a week can be important to enable the public to have face to face contact with the Council. For many Councils the idea of having only online or video contact with their Electorate isn’t acceptable.

Flexible working can also improve accessibility to work to a more diverse range of potential Employees, and it is obviously better for talent attraction. 

However, there are risks. A fully remote work is associated with a 10 per cent productivity drop-off in some studies.  Also Councils must think about the practicalities:

·        Effective communication technology is essential.  Councils must have access to their Employees during their normal working hours, regardless of where they are; office based or at home. 

·        Some Employees may struggle with the ability to separate the home and work cultures.  They can struggle with the intrusive nature of having to deal with colleagues, Councillors and the public from the ‘sanctuary’ of their home.  This needs managing sensitively to ensure that calls, emails and other intrusive elements of work are kept to working hours only.

·        Home working Employees need equipment to do the job, such as laptops, printers, mobile phones.  There is also the concern that these expensive assets can be held ‘hostage’ if the Employment relationship breaks down, and not returned.

·        Confidentiality is also an issue for Councils to consider.  The Council needs to ensure that sensitive personal data belonging to the Council is being securely stored at an Employee’s home.  Again, if the employment relationship breaks down, is the Council confident this information will be returned?  An option could be for all data an information to be stored on an encrypted memory cloud, to which only key people such as the Clerk, Chair and Vice Chair have access to the password.

What is becoming more apparent is that traditional office based 9-5 working is coming to an end, and more diverse and hybridised forms of working are gradually becoming the norm for a lot of Councils.

PROFILE

Chris Moses LLM Chartered FCIPD is Managing Director of Personnel Advice & Solutions Ltd.  He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and has a Master’s Degree in Employment Law.

If you have any questions regarding these issues please feel free to contact him on (01529) 305056 or email p.d.solutions@zen.co.uk

www.personneladviceandsolutions.co.uk