In this series of articles, I take a look at the growing HR and workforce trends that are building momentum to help businesses understand what the workforce of the future will look like and how they can prepare for these workforce evolutions. In this article, we look at a number of trends moving towards the evolution of the traditional 9-5 working option, which is becoming more and more obsolete.
- Remote and hybrid working – wherever you sit on the debate about how effective working from home is, it is unarguable that hybrid / remote working is a key perk and a deciding factor for most candidates in today’s recruitment market. Working from home for most businesses was enforced due to the pandemic with not much time to think about how it would work in practice. Post-pandemic most companies have still not proactively reviewed their WFH practices or made adaptions to ensure its effectiveness which is where much of the debate is stemming from.
- Term time only working – Amazon UK recently publicly announced that it was offering term time only working contracts to not just parents but to grandparents and guardians. Other companies such as PWC have also announced school friendly policies this year, whereby staff can finished at 12pm on Fridays throughout the summer month and school holidays to allow for greater work-life balance. Term time working is increasing as identified by the CIPD. Term time workers now account for 4.4% of the working population and 16% of employers offer term time working patterns (CIPD, 2023 Flexible and Hybrid Working Practices report).
- Four day working week – after the successful UK trial of the four day working week, which saw a 92% success rate, the majority of companies partaking in the trial either continued the working pattern or have permanently moved their business to this working pattern. Hays 2023 survey found that job searches for ‘four-day week’ were at an all time high. The survey revealed that 62% of UK employees favour a four day working week option over having a hybrid working pattern, illustrating how popular this working pattern could be to prospective employees. The survey also showed that almost double the number of employers were considering or already offering a four day week working pattern in the space of one year (9% in 2022 and now 18% in 2023).
- Fluid workforces – There are 7.2 million people in the UK working as a ‘fluid workforce’ (e.g. freelancing, gig worker, contractors, moonlighters, crowdsourced workers etc.). We are also seeing an increasing trend of these types of workers having a full time job and using temporary or contracted work to boost their earning potential; 48% of gig workers also have a full time job. This is a workforce trend that has seen astronomical growth in a few number of years, a workforce trend that’s only set to continue. The pandemic, talent crisis and AI developments have all contributed towards the acceleration of the use of fluid workers through demand and technological development and availability.
These trends suggest that the traditional onsite, 9-5 job is starting to become an outdated concept and that the labour market is responding very well to more flexible and fluid working options that maximise their earning potential, work-life balance and career options. So how can companies prepare for change in this area and adapt themselves to accommodate flexible and fluid workforces:
- To accommodate remote working options, businesses should design and create a collaborative workplace that meets the needs of both the remote and physical on-site workforce.
- HR should be more intentionally involved in designing the organisation for better collaboration and better remote working practices
- Businesses should proactively strategize how to tackle common working from home issues including:
- Leveraging digital platform engagement tolls, e.g. polls, breakout rooms, sharing screens etc.
- Community huddles – encouraging informal meets, cross-departmental meetings
- Line manager training – equipping managers to manage a remote workforce and how to spot red flags
- Implement pulse surveys – on wellbeing, staff engagement and culture reviews
- Instil the company expectations for engagement and participation for virtual meetings and remote working
- Employers should look at developing their working pattern options including term time working, job sharing, temporary contracts etc. to remain an employer of choice and to build their employer brand.
- Raising awareness internally of the different forms of flexible working available to employees will support staff engagement, productivity and retention
- Business should ensure that they are focusing on outcomes and performance, rather than office presence to get the most out of their workforce
- Businesses should work with HR to create a blended workforce strategy that meets the needs of permanent and temporary workers and strategize how to engage, attract, retain and reward both types of workers
*Capgemini The Fluid Workforce Revolution Research
In our next articles in this series, we will take a looking at the following trends:
- Attracting the worker of tomorrow with ‘career experiences’
- Why to skills map and the ‘half-life of skills’
We have discussed ‘Becoming more Family and Female Friendly’ in last weeks article, which is available to view here.
If you would like any advice on flexible working, fluid workforces, employment status, or HR trends, then please contact Kimberley Wallace, Senior HR Consultant on kim@nockoldshr.co.uk or 0345 646 0406.