Building a culture that supports flexible working

Our trade union representatives (across all unions!) are always hearing from members whose flexible working requests have been denied. Not because of clinical need. Not because there aren’t enough staff. But because, more often than not, managers are not willing or able to think outside the box.

Is this just down to individual managers being rigid? We think it’s often down to a wider cultural problem. While many organisations have flexible working policies in place to support the NHS People Promise commitment, these policies are not always reflected in the experience of staff on the front line. 

As so many management books told us in the early ‘90s – “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. So, how can we start to change this culture? How can we build a culture that actively supports flexible working, as opposed to stifling the creativity required to support more flexibility?

Here are a few tips to help encourage a more flexible working culture – based on real examples from NHS Trusts.

• Have ALL flexible working requests submitted via a single system. This enables you to capture data, so you can monitor the numbers of requests from across the organisation, identify patterns of areas where requests are repeatedly turned down, and to highlight good practice.
• Ask your OD team to review requests that have been denied to explore if there are any ways to accommodate a level of flexibility. A different perspective can encourage innovation and can help to drive a more ‘can do’ approach.
• Train all managers on the different types of flexible working and how flexible working can help bring down costs and improve staff engagement. Feedback suggests that many managers consider flexible working to mean part-time working only. Ensure that they’re aware of all the different options by training them and encouraging them to be more innovative.
• Consider if your managers are receiving mixed messages. If you dig deeper, are your managers genuinely encouraged to support flexible working or is it just lip service? Set up a Comms, HR and Leadership working group to better align corporate messages with actions.  
• Take a whole system approach and use behaviour change methodology to understand the capability, the opportunity and the motivation of managers when approving or denying flexible working requests. Design specific interventions to support more flexible working requests being approved.

If you have any more tips or examples you can share with us, please get in touch at hello@talkaboutflex.org.