Get your data on…

To bring about any change in an organisation, you need to really understand what’s going on. Lifting all the rocks and building up an accurate picture of the current state is an absolute must for any organisational change. So what sort of data can help you to drive a more flexible working culture?

Capturing this data and looking at an organisation wide picture helps you to work in partnership with teams to ensure that all staff have a consistent experience and one that reflects the organisation’s flexible working policy as well as the NHS People Promise.

The number of flexible working requests

What does the number look like across the whole organisation? Are the number of flexible working requests in line with what you would expect? Are there any departments that have very low numbers of requests coming through? If so, why?

The number of flexible working requests that are approved

How many requests are approved compared to the number of requests received? Are there any areas of the organisation that are outliers – both in terms of being approved and declined? This high-level picture enables you to identify patterns and areas of good practice. Are there any teams who could share their ways of working, or their tips for making flexible working work for them?

The reasons for declining any requests

Of the requests that are declined, what are the reasons? Understanding some of the underlying reasons can help you to address the root causes or to ensure that the managers in those teams have clear and consistent messages to help explain the reasons to staff where necessary. Explaining decisions clearly (especially when declining requests) means that even when it’s not possible to accommodate the flexible working request, staff still feel supported and valued.

Understanding patterns through data opens up conversations and helps to tackle any areas where individual managers are making decisions based on preferences rather than on organisational need.

Staff engagement scores

Engagement scores through staff surveys and/or pulse surveys are a key part of any ‘dashboard’. They’re useful scores to track, to help you measure the impact of changes.

Turnover rate

How do your staff turnover rates compare to similar organisations? Are there any patterns in terms of the type of role or departments with high turnover rates? Does your organisation hold exit interviews? Capturing the data from these could prove useful when building business cases for flexible working initiatives / demonstrating the value of flexible working to managers.

Staff absence rates

As above, are your staff absence rates in line with similar organisations? Are there any underlying reasons that show patterns? Flexible working can help to support better staff wellbeing and can help colleagues to manage stress and achieve a better work-life balance. Tracking these rates can help you to assess the impact of any changes you introduce.

 

We hope you find this useful. If you have suggestions for any other data that should be on this list, please get in touch! If you have experience of using data to bring about a more flexible working culture, please let us know.