Career Toolkit
Top tips: finding a new flexible job
You’re looking for a flexible job that can work round your children. You know lots of people with flexible jobs, but they’ve all negotiated them before or while on maternity leave with the firm they were working for before they got pregnant. Where do you begin?
1. Try organisations that specialise in offering flexible work, like workingmums.co.uk, which works with employers who are keen to promote their family friendly credentials. Also, do research in the field you want to work in to find out what the best firms to work for are in terms of flexible working. Working Families runs an awards scheme that identifies good practice. Check the websites of the firms you want to work for – look at their HR policy and check out issues like their attitudes to flexible working. Those that have good policies on flexible working are usually keen to advertise it and to list what they offer. Look out for companies that offer a range of different types of flexible working, from flexi-time and compressed hours to working from home and job shares.
2. When you go for interviews, don’t be shy about asking about the company’s flexible work policies. You don’t need to ask outright if you can work part-time or from home. It is better, at interview stage, to ask indirect questions about the company’s policies, about whether people normally work beyond their contracted hours and about how many of their employees work flexibly. If you are offered the job, you would then have to make a good business case for why you should do it on a flexible basis. Be realistic and don’t ask for a degree of flexibility which clearly will not work for the kind of job you are applying for.
3. If you have not agreed a flexible work pattern when you join as part of your contract of employment, it is advisable to go through a formal procedure for agreeing flexibility so that your work pattern is written down and becomes part of your contract after you have worked it for more than a year. You can refer to this if the company subsequently seeks to change your hours which they would have to do in consultation with you or risk being in breach of contract.
4. Remember that you still have to have childcare covered for flexible options such as working from home.
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The world of work is changing and flexible working is a much bigger topic than it ever was with an increasing number of businesses offering flexible or job sharing style roles. However, the old job hunting rules still apply - you need to be thorough in your searching, signing up to jobs boards such as WorkingMums as well as using your network of contacts for searching out the unadvertised job opportunities. Majella Wilkins
Majella Wilkins, majellawilkins@btinternet.com | Report this comment
Large global companies such as the one I work for used to be very flexible, but in the last year, with changes in senior management and leadership squabbling & jostling for position/rank, came an intolerance to my flexible working with the words "we don't want to be held accountable for child abuse if you can't work and look after your kids" and "how do we know you are dedicating all of your time to the company". Well - that was trust straight out the window and I stopped working over and above the call of duty and my contracted hours. In fact, it was made so unhappy, miserable and completely untenable for me to stay that I have now found another job, paying more, with the flexibility I require. Shame on them!
Anonymous | Report this comment
I can't believe these big global companies cannot provide their employees with childcare vouchers! You would think they would encourage their staff to return to work by providing these. I am struggling to get back to work....with full-time childcare costing over £800 per month and most full-time salaries making it totally unrealistic to be able to even afford to return to work, let alone make it worthwhile financially!! :(
Anonymous | Report this comment