Attitudes changing on flexible working, Brighton study reveals

The survey found 91 per cent of employers felt attitudes among the business community were more positive towards the concept now than they were ten years ago. But parents in particular will be disappointed to hear, of the 2,500 comments collated by the survey, nearly 80 per cent were negative about employers’ willingness to explore or offer flexible working.

Emma Cleary, director of Ten2Two Sussex said: “We see success in the smaller businesses, especially in Brighton, who see the advantage of having a skilled and experienced professional on their team.

“In bigger companies, the ethos of flexible working often gets stuck with middle management because it’s never been done that way before. There is an enormous amount of work still to do.”

One working parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I was offered a promotion in my London-based job and got stuck in the ‘full-time role rammed into four days’ situation. I felt I was failing at work and coming home and not meeting my family’s needs either.

“On reflection I should have pushed for a job-share scenario, even as a trial, which my rich city firm I’m fairly sure could have accommodated.”

However, 29 per cent of employers felt there had been significant improvement in attitudes among the business community.

Emily Munford, director of We Are All Connected in Brighton, said: “Offering flexible working is not only beneficial to staff, it also impacts positively on productivity as it improves staff engagement and motivation. Everyone is offered the opportunity to work flexibly here as we are committed to improving our employees’ work/life balance.”

Of the workers surveyed, 71 per cent agreed there has been a shift in attitude towards part-time and flexible working, yet only 11 per cent said they felt there had been a clear, positive change.

Tiffany Mattson, 45, is a business development director at TicketMedia in Hove and has a seven-year-old daughter. Her 25-hour week means she is able to do the school run every day.

She said: “There are times I need to put extra hours in, to work around clients or meet a deadline, and it is important the business is flexible too for this to work. I’m very lucky in that respect.”