The Opportunity Now Blog Spot

Helen Wells, Director, Opportunity Now,  discusses flexible working and the results of a recent You Gov Poll.

Creating more agile organisations and embedding flexibility is one of our three priorities, so to celebrate our 20th anniversary in November 2011 we commissioned some polling from YouGov to find out more about who works flexibly, who wants to, and why?
52% of the people polled by You Gov told us that greater flexibility at work would make them happier, and only 17% of those polled told us that they didn’t want a more flexible working pattern.  Flexibility is in real demand in UK workplaces. 
Flexible working has clear business benefits – 33% of those polled said that greater flexibility would/does make them more productive and 43% said that it would/does help them with stress. 

Contrary to stereotype, women and men both want greater flexibility at work.   It’s wrong to assume that flexible working is all about children – only 17% cited spending time with children as a benefit.  Flexible working has value for everyone.  Unsurprisingly, it is full time workers who most want greater flexibility.   There were significant regional variations.  Employers in Scotland offer the least flexible working options.   London has the most people currently working flexibly and the most people who would like greater flexibility.   Gender differences do come through in some of the drivers behind a desire for flexibility.  Women were twice as likely to cite elder care as a reason to work more flexibly, and men were keener to save time and money on commuting.   Undertaking this polling work was a useful way to get some facts and stats – our Out of Office research sets out in more depth and detail the ways in which organisations can become truly agile and make the most of the benefits of a workforce that can work in a flexible way. 

Out of Office found that organisations must provide managers with the support and skills to manage remote workers and should encourage them to extend the flexibility afforded to some members of the team more widely.  Where individuals cannot or do not want to work in an agile way it is also important for organisations to ensure that every team member is actively managed and performance managed and measured.

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 2006 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1st - 3rd November 2011.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).