It is National Work Life Week in the UK, an initiative launched six years ago by charity Working Families to raise awareness of the importance of flexible working. Since last June any employee in the UK is able to request flexible working but according to research by O2 Business[1] only 23% have taken up the option. The research found that a lack of trust and a general business culture that doesn’t encourage working away from the office is largely to blame. Results from our recent HR Reflections survey reinforced this problem. It showed that whereas 58% of organisations surveyed believed that people should be measured on output rather than hours and that the traditional hours of ‘9-5’ will not be relevant for much longer, of those organisations more than half do not feel their organisations was suitably prepared to deal with such a change. Flexible working is more than just a nice to have. We know from our research that the ability to influence how you work has an impact on wellbeing which in turn improves employee engagement and ultimately business performance[2]. Currently we’re not very good at prioritising wellbeing and we’re slaves to long hours, insufficient breaks and unclaimed holiday allowance. Whereas allowances for flexible working were once made largely for working mothers and carers, flexible working has now become a far wider requirement. Fathers also want to spend more time at home with their family – as illustrated by the recent case of Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of investment fund Pimco who quit his job after his 10 year old daughter reminded him family life comes first. Then there is the availability of real time communications and mobile technology which sets expectations for Generations Y and Z to be able to work when and where they want[3]. And with the changing demographic profile which will see more older workers and carers in the workforce, the pressure to facilitate flexible working will only get greater. Initiatives like the Work Life Week are an important step in addressing the barriers that exist. They help organisations to start talking about flexible working and make them consider their health and wellbeing policies. Encouraging organisations to participate in the ‘leave work on time’ day scheduled for Wednesday 23rd September makes the concept of shorter hours more accessible and makes it acceptable for everyone to leave work on time, for a day at least. The cultural shift required to move western tradition from long, office based hours to a more flexible working week will take time but the little steps are critical in paving the way. A shifting demographic profile matched with a technologically advanced economy makes flexible working an ongoing expectation and requirement and the forward thinking companies are the ones thinking about it now. Visit http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/publications/the-top-employers-for-working-families-benchmark-report-2015/ to see how the likes of Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Deloitte and Centrica are implementing flexible and family friendly policies. [1] http://news.o2.co.uk/2015/01/07/right-to-request-flexible-working-six-months-on-only-one-in-five-have-taken-advantage-of-legislation/ [2] ORC International’s Global Perspectives Report 2015 [3] Defining wellbeing across the generations, by Alice Streatfeild Associate Director, ORC International