Flexible working to support staff with the rising cost of living
Learn how employers can support their staff by offering flexible working options.
As part of the NHS People Plan, the NHS People Promise sets out a series of commitments, one of which is we work flexibly:
“We do not have to sacrifice our family, our friends or our interests for work.”
This ambition is to give people greater choice over their working patterns, helping them to achieve a better work-life balance, and support them with the increased cost of living. To ensure the NHS remains an employer of choice and can attract talent in a competitive job market, more action is needed to increase the uptake of flexible working.
Advice and recommendations for employers
- Ensure staff are aware of the section 33 guidance in the NHS terms and conditions handbook, which outlines staff are entitled to make a flexible working request from day one of employment.
- Highlight the different ways flexible working can be implemented, flexible working doesn’t always equate to less hours and it can benefit the employer in many different ways. Read how Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust used compressed hours to allow for clinics to open earlier in the morning and later in the evening.
- Introduce flexible working conversations into wellbeing conversations with staff. Encourage staff to discuss the flexible working options available to them, and support managers to lead a flexible team.
Emerging practice and case studies
Further resources and additional tools
- Our new video resource features work from Catherine Smith, organisational development manager at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, to improve staff experience in the flexible working space. The video shares the process the team there went through, tips for employers wanting to implement similar practices and evaluation of the results.
- Flexible working guides for line managers and staff have been created in collaboration with NHS England, NHS Staff Council and Timewise to support staff and line managers to work flexibly.
- Read our flexible working enablers for change to support employers to embed flexible working into the workforce.
- Flexible working common myths have been developed by NHS Staff Council to bust some of the common myths associated with flexible working.
- Our guide on how to embed flexible working for nurses signposts to the latest research and thinking concerning flexible working, highlights what nurses look for in a flexible role, and identifies a number of key enablers to successfully embedding a culture of flexible working.
