A lack of flexibility at work has prompted four million UK employees to change careers, with around two million having done so in the past year.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is therefore warning there could be a talent exodus after its latest report revealed that an increasing number of businesses are offering flexible working options from the first day of employment, rising from 36%in 2021 to 39% in 2023. Additionally, 14% that don’t currently do so plan to before the government mandates it later this year.
However, the professional body for HR and people development found that nearly half (49%) are unaware that the legislation is changing.
The survey of 4,000 senior decision-makers and individuals further revealed that those with long-term health conditions or a disability are far more likely to report leaving a job in the past year or changing their job because of a lack of flexibility, cited by 21% and 32% respectively.
Around seven in 10 (71%) of employees say flexible working is important to them when deciding on a new job, while almost the same number (69%) believe remote working options are important.
Two in five (40%) of employers surveyed reported a rise in requests for flexible working, with more now saying it is an important option to offer when advertising positions, rising from 56% in 2021 to 66% in 2023.
Claire McCartney, senior resourcing and inclusion adviser at the CIPD, said: “Many organisations are facing the dual challenges of skills shortages and talent retention issues, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, education, and hospitality. Our latest research reinforces that offering flexible working can go a long way towards tackling these problems, even in roles that are traditionally seen as non-flexible.
“There’s a variety of flexible working practices organisations can offer for most roles, including flexitime, compressed hours, hybrid working, job-sharing and term-time working. By outlining flexible working options in job advertisements, employers can also open up recruitment to wider talent pools and create fairer and more inclusive workplaces. This transparency supports workers to ask for flexibility and helps to normalise the conversation for all groups.”
According to the findings, nearly two-thirds (65%) of organisations offer some flexibility to front-line staff, but there’s significant demands that aren’t being met. For example, just 17% currently use flexitime but 29% would use it if they had the option to do so. This is the same for term-time working, at 2% versus 8%, compressed hours at 4% compared to 18% job sharing at 1% versus 4% and annualised hours, at 3% compared to 11%.
McCartney added: “More needs to be done to educate and prepare organisations for pending legislation to make flexible working requests a day one right. However, employers don’t need to wait to make a change to their flexible working policies and should offer the right to request flexible working from day one of employment, wherever possible.”
The CIPD report proposes that employers adopt flexible and hybrid working by implementing internal day-one flexible working policies, raising awareness of various flexible arrangements, providing managers with training to effectively support flexible and hybrid teams, developing action plans to ensure that hybrid working supports inclusion, and consulting employees when designing hybrid working models.
