Time4Balance » Blog Archive » Half of the working population wants to work more flexibly

Time to stop and stare?

A recent Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) report found that half of the working population wants to work more flexibly.

According to the report, Working outside the box, 6.5 million people in Britain today could be using their skills more fully if more flexible working was available, either by working at a level at which they used to work or simply returning to the workforce.

I say: maybe they can also find the time to do all the things they don’t normally have the time to do - like simply "stop and stare" and reflect..

Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, wants to extend flexible working rights to the 29 million workers in this country. "Everyone has a life outside work, not just parents . . . It is a fantasy to expect people to have none other than work commitments. Indeed, many people make valuable contributions to their communities in their non-work time,’ says Ms Hughes in a new book to mark the 10th anniversary of Labour’s 1997 election victory. And she adds: ‘It is unacceptable for family-friendly employment to be an option only for those parents - often women - who downshift in pay and status.’

In my work as a consultant advising companies on flexible working, many of the workers have expressed a wish to work flexibly and frankly, resent those who currently have the right to request flexible working, ie parents with young parents. They express the same sentiment as Beverley Hughes states above.

Many people want to work flexibly working for a whole variety of reasons apart from the obvious i.e childcare and care of relatives; some want to play in a band, pursue a hobby to a higher level, train for a sporting event, travel, further their education, follow a spiritual/religious path or - get this - just hang out for the sake of it! And why not?

If more people had time to "stop and stare", reflect on many of the seemingly unsolvable problems in their lives, they may well come up with some solutions, having had the time and space to mull things over.

These people may also have the time to give to charitable work, helping the local community, invent new ways to do things, become entrepeneurs or simply live a happier, less stressed, more content life.

There’s a radical idea…