These are the thoughts Nikki shared at Making Flexible Working Work, an online session hosted by Future Proof Learning on Tuesday 9th June 2026, exploring the realities of flexible working and what it means for working mothers, wellbeing and workplace culture.

When people hear the phrase “flexible working,” they often jump straight to one thing — working from home. But flexible working is much broader than that.

At its core, it is about giving people choice over when, where and how they work, in ways that work for the organisation too. That might mean hybrid or home working for some roles. But it can also mean different start and finish times, compressed hours, job shares, part-time working, or more predictable shifts that people have input into.

Making that happen well takes open-minded leadership, a willingness to look at how work is actually designed, and managers who feel supported to have good conversations with their teams.

The Demand Is Real and Growing

This is not a niche issue.

• 82% of workers in Scotland either have flexible working or want it.
• CIPD research found around 1.1 million employees left a job in a 12-month period because they could not access the flexibility they needed.
• In our most recent research with 1,000 workers in Scotland, flexibility was the most desired workplace benefit after pay and for a significant proportion, it mattered even more than that.

Flexible working has become one of the main ways people judge whether a job will work for them and whether an employer is somewhere they can genuinely thrive.

The Gap Between Intention and Experience

Many organisations genuinely want to get this right. A lot of them have made a real start: there is a policy, there is an intention, there is good will.

But when you speak to employees, there is often a gap between what is written down and what people actually experience day to day. It can feel uneven, inconsistent, or simply unclear.

That is really the more interesting question now. Not whether flexible working matters — we know it does. The question is what flexible working done well actually looks like in practice, and how organisations can close that gap so that both their people and their business genuinely benefit.

When It Works: A Real Example

We worked with a small organisation in the tech sector recently. Like many organisations right now, they were under real pressure: tight budgets, ambitious targets, and not much slack in the system.

What they did well was build flexibility into the fabric of how they worked. Jobs were designed and advertised as open to flexibility. Work was shaped around people’s needs, whether that meant part-time hours, different working patterns, or time for childcare and other commitments. People adjusted their hours when needed, worked from home when it made sense, and kept each other informed without layers of approval.

It was built on trust.

The results were clear. They attracted talented people, retained them, and saw high levels of motivation and engagement. And the organisation exceeded its targets.

The CEO was very clear about the connection: when people feel trusted and able to live their lives, they give more back.

The Cost of Getting Stuck

We also hear from organisations where flexibility has not quite landed yet. It is worth understanding what that looks like, not to point fingers, but because recognising it is the first step to changing it.

Sometimes people leave because they cannot find the flexibility they need. But often, they stay and quietly absorb the pressure of balancing an inflexible role alongside caring responsibilities, a health condition, or other commitments. Over time, that takes a real physical and mental toll.

It can also breed quiet frustration, not directed at any one person, but at the system. And that is not a foundation for the kind of engaged, high-performing teams organisations are working hard to build. The good news is that it is very much within organisations’ power to shift.

Three Common Concerns and What the Evidence Shows

When we talk to leaders about flexible working, a few concerns come up again and again. They are completely understandable and worth addressing directly.

“If we introduce flexible working, productivity will drop.”

It is a natural concern. But the evidence paints a much more positive picture. In our research with 250 business leaders in Scotland:

• 84% reported increased productivity
• 87% reported reduced sickness absence
• 86% reported an improved reputation
• 84% reported improved retention

For most organisations, the experience of introducing flexible working has been a positive one. And the business case is becoming harder to ignore.

“It won’t work in our sector.”

This is worth unpacking, because flexibility does not always mean working from home. Sometimes it is about hours, start and finish times, shift patterns, predictability, or how work is organised. The real question is: what genuinely has to stay fixed, and what could flex?

We saw this in action at a manufacturing business we worked with. A group of workers in their late 50s and early 60s were starting to feel the physical impact of the job. Several said they would happily stay on longer if they could move to part-time hours. But they had never asked.

When we asked why, they said: “Nobody on the shop floor does part-time.”

Nobody had written that rule down. The business was already finding it hard to recruit, and was close to losing experienced, skilled people over an assumption that had simply never been challenged. A conversation was all it took to open that up.

“If we allow this, we’ll lose control.”

Organisations that do this well are not losing control; they are exercising a different kind of it. They are being clearer about what needs to be delivered, giving people more autonomy in how they get there, and building genuine trust into the relationship. That is a shift in how you manage, not a step back from managing.

Three Things That Make the Difference

If the gap between policy and practice is where things often fall down, here is where to focus.

1. Design flexibility around the work, not assumptions.

Look carefully at roles. Talk to your people. Ask what genuinely needs to stay fixed and what could work differently. Too often, organisations decide something cannot flex before they have properly tested whether it could — and the answer sometimes surprises them.

2. Support your managers.

Managers are often the make-or-break point. They have a huge influence on how flexibility is experienced day to day and they deserve proper support to do that well. Training and guidance can help them have better conversations, set clear expectations, and make confident, consistent decisions. When managers feel equipped, flexibility feels fairer for everyone.

3. Make flexibility visible.

People need to understand what is possible and how decisions are made, because if they do not, they fill in the gaps themselves. And those assumptions often become the barrier. That is exactly what happened in the manufacturing example: nobody had banned part-time working, but people had simply learned it was not really for them.

And if you are already doing flexibility well, do not keep it quiet. Talk about it in your recruitment materials, on your website, in job adverts and in conversations with candidates. It does not just help attract talent; it signals the kind of employer you are. One that trusts people, supports them, and is willing to adapt.

The Opportunity

Flexible working done well is not about having the perfect policy. It is about what happens day to day: what managers say, what employees believe is possible, and whether work has been designed in ways that work for real people in real roles.

When organisations get that right, the benefits are real and tangible: stronger retention, protected skills and knowledge, better performance, and more diverse and resilient teams.

And ultimately, a reputation as somewhere people genuinely want to work and stay.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Whether you are just starting to think about flexible working or looking to strengthen what you already have in place, we would love to hear from you.

Flexibility Works supports organisations through manager and staff training, leadership and business consultancy, employability programmes and accreditation. Whatever stage you are at, there is a way we can help.

Get in touch at hello@flexibilityworks.org and we will take it from there.

And if you are not already on our mailing list, sign up here for research, practical insights and the latest thinking on flexible working.

The post The Gap Between Policy and Practice: What Flexible Working Done Well Actually Looks Like appeared first on Flexibility Works.

The Flexible Workplace Accreditation is the first of its kind in the UK, and ten organisations in Scotland have now become the first to achieve it through the pilot, giving a clearer picture of what good flexible working looks like in reality.

There’s been a quiet shift happening in workplaces across Scotland.

Not a big policy overhaul or a dramatic redesign of work, but something more gradual than that. Small changes. Thoughtful decisions. Managers trying things. Teams figuring out what works day to day.

And now, we’re starting to see how that comes together.

At our recent launch event, sponsored by Quorum, we recognised the first organisations to achieve the Flexible Workplace Accreditation, becoming Scotland’s first accredited Flexible Workplaces.

It was a really positive moment to bring these organisations together and reflect on the progress they’ve made, and the work behind it. The conversations, decisions and commitment it takes to make flexible working work well.

Pamela Mundt, Head of Marketing at Quorum, said:
“We really believe in what Flexibility Works are doing. This accreditation supports better outcomes for employers and employees, particularly those in lower-paid roles, where flexibility can make a real difference to people’s lives.

We want to use our experience as a flexible employer to help others, support organisations across Scotland, and play a responsible role in the Scottish business community.”

Scotland’s First Accredited Organisations

We were proud to recognise:

• Accountability Edinburgh
• Barrhead Housing Association
• Cyber and Fraud Centre – Scotland
• Flexible Childcare Services Scotland
• Greenspace Scotland
• Into Work
• Melville Housing Association
• Scullion Law
• Social Investment Scotland
• Working Rite

They represent different sectors, different roles and very different ways of working.

But they all share something important.

They are creating workplaces where flexible working works in practice, and where people can feel the difference day to day.

These aren’t just organisations with a policy in place. They’re teams and leaders who have made conscious decisions about how work works, and how it can work better for their people.

A well thought out approach

This accreditation has been shaped by more than 15 years of experience working directly with employers across Scotland, alongside input from an advisory board and organisations working in different sectors and roles.

That matters, because what works in one organisation will look different in another and the accreditation assessment process has been shaped to reflect that. It focuses on what works in practice and gives organisations a way to step back, understand their approach, and build on what’s already working for their people and their business.

Lisa McPherson, Group People Director UK & Europe City Facilities Management Holdings (UK) Ltd and Advisory Board Member at Flexibility Works, said:
“These days, I think most organisations recognise the importance of flexible working, but many are still working out what good looks like in practice. It isn’t a one size fits all approach, it varies by business, role and the needs of a multigenerational workforce. The Flexible Workplace accreditation gives organisations a straightforward, practical framework and support to help them get there.”

Why they chose to do this

For many of these organisations, the accreditation felt like a natural next step.

They were already doing good things, but wanted a clearer way to bring consistency, confidence and visibility to their approach.

In particular, they told us they wanted to:

• show their commitment to their people
• gain external recognition
• build on the progress they had already made

It wasn’t about ticking a box.

It was about taking something they already cared about and making it work more clearly, consistently and confidently across their organisation.

As one organisation shared:
“We knew we were doing a lot already, but this gave us a way to bring it together and show that clearly, both to our team and externally.”

What they valued about the experience

One message came through clearly from every organisation: the process worked.

It was described as simple, straightforward and not onerous. More importantly, it felt supportive, like working in partnership.

Organisations valued having the space to step back, reflect and think about what good flexible working looks like in their context.

As one organisation put it:
“It was straightforward and supportive. It didn’t feel like an audit. It felt like something designed to help us improve.”

Two things stood out in particular.

Hearing directly from their own people helped them understand what’s working, where things vary, and how flexible working is really experienced day to day. Clear, practical recommendations then gave them a way forward, helping them prioritise and move ahead with confidence.

As Lorna Wilson, CEO of Barrhead Housing Association, said:
“It is a timely and modern process, with lots of support to help us continually improve.”

What they’re already seeing

Even at this early stage, organisations are seeing real impact.

They are talking more openly about flexible working, creating more clarity across teams and building trust.

In practice, that looks like improving internal guidance, embedding flexibility into onboarding, and continuing conversations with staff about what works.

These changes may be simple, but they are meaningful, and they are already shaping how people experience work day to day.

As one organisation shared:
“It’s helped us have more open and honest conversations about how we work, and that’s already making a difference.”

Why this matters for businesses and for people

Flexible working is becoming an important part of how organisations attract, support and retain their people.

What these organisations show is that flexible working can work across different roles, sectors and environments, when it’s designed thoughtfully and supported in practice.

When it works well, people feel it in the culture, in the conversations, and in how they are able to do their job and live their life alongside it.

Sharon Gillies, Chief Operating Officer, Social Investment Scotland said:
‘Achieving accreditation as a flexible workplace was an important milestone for Social Investment Scotland, reflecting our commitment to embedding flexible working into how we operate. At SIS, our flexible working policy is grounded in our core values and underpins a culture of trust, balance, and high performance.

This approach enables our people to work in ways that support productivity and wellbeing, while strengthening collaboration across a diverse and cohesive team. Flexible working is central to our people centred culture, one in which individuals are empowered, trusted, and motivated to contribute their best. Through these principles, SIS attracts and retains talented people while actively promoting a healthy and sustainable work–life balance for all.’

And from Melville Housing Association:
“The accreditation helps us show we really care about people… and connect with like-minded organisations.”

A shared commitment

Lisa Gallagher, Co-Founder of Flexibility Works, said:
“We’re incredibly proud of these organisations and what they’ve achieved. Hearing the stories from their staff, about what flexible working means in their day-to-day lives, has been powerful.

These are organisations who have made conscious decisions about how work works, creating environments where people can do great work and have a life alongside it.

That’s what brings this group together, a shared commitment to being great employers, strong organisations, and part of something bigger.”

Lyndsay Fraser Robertson, Programmes and Practice Officer, The Robertson Trust, said:
“Flexible working is fundamental to fair, high quality jobs, especially for people on the lowest incomes. It should be a standard feature of good work, not something dependent on role, income or individual managers.

“This accreditation provides a clear, credible benchmark for what effective flexible working looks like in practice, helping more people to enter work, stay in work and thrive.

The Robertson Trust is committed to supporting work that can drive lasting change on poverty and trauma in Scotland. As part of this, we want to see a Scotland where paid work offers a reliable route out of poverty, and we are proud to support an initiative that can improve job quality and transform lives.”

More than recognition

For these organisations, accreditation is more than a badge.

It’s something they are already using to strengthen recruitment, demonstrate their values, support funding and award applications, and connect with like-minded organisations.

It gives them a clear, credible way to say this is how we work, and this is what we stand for.

Not quite there yet? You’re not alone

We know not every organisation will feel ready for accreditation straight away.

Many employers are already offering some flexibility, but want to build confidence, consistency or clarity before taking that step.

That’s exactly why we’ve developed the Flexible Workplace Accelerator, a supported programme that helps organisations strengthen their approach using the same framework, at their own pace.

Thinking about it for your organisation?

If you’re already offering flexible working, even in small, everyday ways, you might already be closer than you think.

That’s often the starting point: recognising what’s already there and building on it in a structured, supported way.

👉 Learn more about the Flexible Workplace Accreditation
👉 Join our online information session on 23rd April to find out more

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At Scotland’s first Flexible Working Summit, supported by the Scottish Government, employers, policymakers and experts came together to focus on one of the biggest remaining challenges, how to extend flexibility into frontline and service-led roles. Because while flexible working is now common in many desk-based jobs, access is still uneven, and that gap matters.

Our latest research shows that flexible working has the potential to support up to 25,000 more people into employment in Scotland, particularly parents, carers and people with health conditions. But only if it works across more roles.

The flexibility gap, and why it matters

Flexible working is now the norm for many people. But not for everyone.

Frontline roles are still far less likely to offer flexibility, even though the demand is there, and the impact is real.

For some people, a lack of flexibility means:

• not being able to take a job
• not being able to stay in work
• or not being able to progress

Closing that gap isn’t just about fairness. It’s about workforce participation, business performance and the wider economy.

What employers are already doing (and what’s working)

One of the strongest themes from the Summit was this: Flexible working doesn’t need to be a big redesign and Iin many cases, it starts with small, practical changes.

Hearing directly from employers made that clear.

Small changes making a big difference

Employers from across different sectors shared what this looks like in practice, in their own words.

Linda McCall, Co-owner and Financial Director at Alba Facilities Services

“we have given our team at Alba the gift of time, a day a week to choose how they want to spend it. Staff turnover dropped by 20%, overwhelming sense of loyalty, focus on effectiveness rather than working hours”

Janette McAllister, Managing Director at McAllister Litho Glasgow

“We adjusted our rota planning to give staff more say in when they work, and it’s had a really positive impact, smoother coverage, fewer last‑minute changes, and a team that feels genuinely more supported.”

Stephen Currie, Managing Director, R&W Scott

“The change we made was more of a change of mindset, and being open to suggestions to accommodate flexibility in some way for every role in our business. The result has been improved morale and an ability to attract candidates we may previously have missed out on.”

John McMorrow, CEO, Melville Housing Association Melville Housing Association

“We introduced a 4-day working week whilst paying staff for 5 days as part of our flexible working arrangements.

This change has had a significant impact on the work life balance of our staff whilst ensuring that we continue to meet all our key performance indicators.

One staff member has stated “Melville is one of the best places I’ve ever had a job….they’re very focussed on us as people, as well as workers”

Across these examples, a clear pattern emerged. These weren’t large-scale redesigns, but small, practical adjustments, often built around what teams needed day to day, and the impact is significant. These changes are helping organisations improve retention, compete in tight labour markets, support staff wellbeing and maintain performance. In many cases, flexibility is offering something employers can’t compete on elsewhere: time and autonomy.

What we heard from leaders

Across the day, a consistent message came through.

Nikki Slowey, Co-Founder of Flexibility Works, said:

“Our research shows flexible working is already improving productivity, wellbeing and retention across Scotland, but too many people are still locked out depending on the role they do.

The opportunity is significant. Flexible working could support up to 25,000 more people into employment, but only if we make it work across more sectors and roles.

This Summit is about turning that evidence into action, showing employers what’s possible in practice and supporting them to take the next step. And often, that starts with one small, practical change.”

Flexible working isn’t one-size-fits-all. But organisations that are doing it well are taking a thoughtful, tailored approach, balancing what works for their people with what works for their business.

Professor Nick Bloom, one of the world’s leading experts on hybrid working, reinforced the business case:

“There’s a lot of evidence that hybrid is actually more profitable… once you’re in three days a week, coming in four and five doesn’t really affect performance, but it cuts costs a lot, because turnover is really expensive.”

Leadership also came through as a critical factor.

Claire Brumby said:

“Flexible working doesn’t fail because of policy — it fails because of leadership. The real shift is moving from control to trust, and recognising that small, human decisions made every day create the biggest impact for both people and performance.”

And Aileen Campbell, CEO of Scottish Women’s Football, highlighted what flexibility signals:

“Flexible working sends an explicit message of the type of environment employers are seeking to create, one that values the people at the heart of their business and recognises that life is complicated and doesn’t fit neatly around the 9–5. For me personally, as a mum and as my parents get older, that means a great deal and helps me be present in the lives of those I love.”

What we heard from employees

The Summit also brought in employee voices, and these grounded the conversation in reality. Flexible working isn’t an abstract idea, it shapes everyday life for people, their families and the wider community.

It affects:

• whether someone can manage childcare
• whether they can stay in work
• whether they can balance health, family and income

For many people, flexible working isn’t a preference, it can be what makes work possible.

From policy to practice

The shift now is clear. Flexible working isn’t about policies sitting on paper, it’s about how work actually works, day to day.

What the Summit showed is:

• flexibility is possible in more roles than many employers think
• small changes can unlock significant impact
• and many organisations are already closer than they realise

What happens next

Scotland has an opportunity to close the flexibility gap, bring more people into work and build stronger, more sustainable workforces. Flexible working isn’t about working less, it’s about working differently, in ways that support both people and performance. And for many employers, the next step isn’t a big leap, but starting small and building from there.

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We submitted evidence to the committee, so we were keen to see their report, which was published last week, and makes a series of recommendations for employers and policymakers. If you don’t fancy reading the (very thorough) 144 page report, our director Nikki Slowey gives her take on what you need to know.

Hybrid is here to stay

UK data shows about four in ten workers work from home at least some of the time, and this isn’t shifting. The report also points out that lots of ‘return to office’ mandates reported by the media are, in fact, the formalisation of hybrid arrangements setting out specific instructions, such as a number of days required in the office each week. Everyone is not going back to the office.

Training and proactivity is key

The committee heard lots of evidence about the benefits of hybrid working for workers as well as for employers, such as reduced costs in office space, reduced sickness and absence rates and better recruitment and retention.

Speaking about the research, the committee chair, Baroness Scott of Needham Market, said: “Effective management of hybrid working is key in allowing people to reap the collaborative benefits of attending the office as well as the flexibility to work from home. If it is done well, hybrid working has the potential to be the best of both worlds. However, due to under-investment in management training, the skills needed to successfully manage hybrid working are lacking.”

Training managers really is key to making a success of hybrid working. As is being intentional and proactive in creating opportunities for connection and collaboration, for example, by using anchor days so teams come together regularly.

We’ll gently mention here that we run workshops for managers and teams on how to create great hybrid working full of connection and collaboration opportunities…

And we’ll point out that our recommendation for Government-funded training for SMEs on effective hybrid working was specifically mentioned in the report too.

Employers missing a trick in recruitment

Recruitment was discussed with the report noting the scarcity of hybrid and home working in job adverts – just 12% mention home working. There was genuine surprise and bafflement from the committee as to why employers don’t mention this more. Particularly because the committee also heard 39% of all workers work from home at least some of the time, that workers value hybrid as much as an 8% pay rise, and that offering home working helped employers recruit better and more diverse staff. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, if you offer flexible working – shout about it when you’re recruiting. You really are missing a trick if not.

We got another name-check in this section of the report, for our recommendation that UK and devolved governments should ensure including flexible working options in public sector job adverts becomes standard practice.

Hybrid helps people into work

We were pleased the report highlighted the impact hybrid and home working can have on people’s ability to get into work.

Baroness Needham said: “The increased flexibility of remote and hybrid working can be especially beneficial to people with disabilities and to parents or carers, and may help them to work where they couldn’t previously. If the Government wants to encourage more people back into work, then it should look into the potential of remote and hybrid working alongside existing back to work initiatives.”

This is something we’ve also long championed for all types of flexible working, not just hybrid.

What next?

If your own hybrid policy was created several years ago in the wake of the pandemic, perhaps it’s time to revisit? You can look at your own data and staff feedback to see where things are going well, and where you can improve.

We also offer bespoke consultancy and a range of one-off workshops that can help you and your teams update and enhance your hybrid (and all flexible working) so it works harder for your people and your organisation.

Working Well as a Hybrid Team – Our half-day, in-person interactive workshop for hybrid teams, to help strengthen team connection and communication, helping hybrid teams work more effectively now and in the future.

Flex Explore – Our practical and engaging workshop designed to give managers the tools and confidence to manage flexible teams successfully. This training offers straightforward strategies and insights to help managers and teams thrive in a flexible work environment.

Flex Forward – Equip your managers with the skills and strategies needed to lead high performing flexible teams. This training offers advanced strategies and insights to help managers lead effectively in a world where flexible working is the norm and the way we work has fundamentally shifted.

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The post Flexible working – Scotland’s untapped opportunity appeared first on Flexibility Works.

When we talk about reducing poverty through work, pay is rightly the first thing that comes to mind. A fair wage is vital for people and their families to afford life’s essentials.

But there’s another, often overlooked, part of the solution; flexible working – because of the way it enables people to get into work, and stay in work.

At Flexibility Works, we believe flexible working is good for people, good for employers, and good for society. And we believe it could be used far more effectively by governments and policy makers as a cost-effective, practical tool to help reduce poverty.

Flex helps people get into work

Our research with unemployed Scottish adults looking for work suggests nearly three in ten (28%) could work if only they could find a flexible role. What’s more, nearly one in seven (13%) Scottish workers say getting a flexible job provided the gateway they needed into employment. Yet according to Timewise, only a third of Scottish job adverts mention flexible working. And 28% of unemployed adults have turned down a job offer because the role didn’t offer the flexibility they needed.

Flex helps people stay in work

As well as helping people get into work, flexible working has a key role to play in enabling people to stay in work. Our research shows more than one in six (16%) flexible workers say they’d have to stop working altogether if their flexibility was no longer available. That rises to 26% of mothers and 30% of workers earning less than £20K.

Low pay, low flex

Unfortunately, workers on the lowest pay face a double setback. They are among the most likely to drop out of work if they can’t work flexibly. And yet they are also the least likely to work flexibly in the first place. Our research shows just over half (57%) of Scottish workers earning less than £20K a year work flexibly, compared with 80% of workers who earn more than £50K.

Of course, having a job doesn’t mean you’re immune to poverty. But a good job with fair pay certainly lowers your risk. Creating more flexible working, especially in lower paid roles would make work accessible and sustainable for more people.

Flex is good for business too

The good news is that flexible working isn’t just good for people, it’s proven to deliver significant benefits for businesses too. More than seven in ten Scottish employers in our research said flexible working had been positive for their organisation.

Employers told us the top business benefits of flexible working are:

• Retaining good staff (75%)
• Improved work life balance (75%)
• Reduced sickness absence (69%)
• Increased discretionary effort (68%)

How employers can explore more flex

Flexible working doesn’t need to feel like a revolution for employers. Often people only want small changes. One dad told us that starting and finishing 20 minutes earlier than usual meant he could pick his twin daughters up from school, saving hundreds of pounds a month in after school care.

We encourage all employers to talk to their teams about what would make a difference to them, and to be open-minded about solutions even if they seem, at first glance, too small to make a difference.

How governments and policy makers can leverage flex

While employment law is set by Westminster, the Scottish Government and other policy makers have real power to shape workplace culture and support employers here in Scotland. Here are three ways they could do it.

1. Fund support for employers

The Scottish Government can fund awareness campaigns, training, and consultancy to help employers (especially SMEs that don’t have large HR departments) understand how flexible working can benefit their business and their people, especially in lower-paid roles.

2. Rethink employability programmes

Scottish Government and employability providers can shift the focus from making people ‘fit’ inflexible jobs to helping employers create more flexible ones. This should include upskilling employability staff to ensure they are confident in their understanding of flexible working and advocating for it with employers.

3. Make flex a requirement in grants and contracts

Scottish Government distributes millions of pounds in grant funding and via contracts. But the criteria for organisations applying for grant funding or contracts currently only that’s that flexible working is ‘desirable’. We’d like this made ‘mandatory’ for all organisations applying for Scottish Government and other public sector funding and contracts.

Poverty is a hugely complex issue, and greater flexible working certainly won’t solve it alone. But flexible working does help people get into work and stay in work. And it does help employers build stronger, more resilient teams. As part of Challenge Poverty Week, we want more people to recognise the role greater flexible working can and should play in efforts to reduce poverty in Scotland.

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In part one, Lisa Gallagher looked back on our early days, our research and our work with hundreds of Scottish employers. Here, Nikki Slowey shares her thoughts on our social purpose to reduce poverty, as well as what’s coming next for Flexibility Works.

Lisa and I set up Flexibility Works because we wanted to create a working culture that truly values work life harmony, and that enables all people and businesses to thrive. This includes addressing the fact so many people are locked out of work because of a lack of flexibility, which impacts them, their families and our wider economy.

Five years on, we believe more than ever that flexible working has the power to help reduce poverty, and this social purpose is a key strand of our social business.

We’ve had time to turn our ‘hunch’ into data-backed evidence that flexible working really does help people get into work, stay in work, and (when done very well) it can help people progress at work too.

Supporting people (back) into work

We’ve always supported women returner workshops with our sessions on how to find flexible jobs and how to ask for flexible working. But in the last few years, we’ve stepped up our work with employability providers because we found that however well-intentioned staff were, some didn’t understand how essential flex is for some people in order to work at all, or they didn’t realise what flexible working could look like in different roles. Our work is helping employability staff to advocate more effectively with employers for flexible jobs that are manageable and sustainable, so people can get into work

In 2024 we published our first poverty-focused report, clearly demonstrating how a lack of flexible working was locking many people, especially parents, out of work. And showing how unequal access to flexible working is – the less you earn, the less likely you are to work flexibly.

We’re also proud to have secured funding to deliver programmes supporting employers to increase flexible working that will help all workers – but especially parents – get into to work and stay in work, such as our Time to Flex project in East Renfrewshire. We’re working in partnership with East Renfrewshire Council to support local employers increase flex options, thanks to funding from the Scottish Government. Ditto our work supporting employers with frontline staff. Just because people can’t work from home, doesn’t mean they can’t have more choice and control in when and how they work.

And we continue to make the case to the Scottish Government, charities and other policy influencers on why leveraging flexible working should be part of wider programmes to reduce child poverty.

Scotland’s first flexible working accreditation

As part of our ambition to bring about systemic change – creating greater flexible working opportunities for all workers including those in poverty – we’re also realising a long-term ambition to develop Scotland’s first accreditation for flexible working.

This will provide a supportive framework for employers to increase their flexible offer and showcase their flexible culture. Employee feedback will be important part of our assessment process to ensure employers really ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to flex, and this is now enshrined in our new accreditation framework. We’re making great progress through our pilot stage and can’t wait to launch fully next year.

What’s next?

We always tell clients that flexible working is a journey, not a destination in itself. The last five years certainly back that up – a global pandemic and (nearly) two new laws on flexible working mean every single workplace will have made changes in how they operate. And we’re not done yet!

Demand from workers for flexibility is at an all-time high. The business case for flexible working has never been stronger. And there are increasing numbers of employers doing flex well that others can learn from. There is still so much more for us to do to help employers unlock the benefits of flexible working, to help people find harmony between their work and home lives, and to play a greater part in reducing poverty by enabling more people to work and stay in work.

After five years we’re starting to mature as a business. We’ve passed through the start-up phase, and we’ve finessed our goals and ways of working. We’re looking forward to growing our business so we can work with more employers, and we’ll continue to work closely with the Scottish Government, UK Government and other policymakers, always making the case for greater flexible working that benefits people and employers equally.

Flexible working is here to stay and, importantly, it continues to evolve. If you feel you’re ready for a flexible working refresh, or a reset on hybrid, you’re probably right.

You know where we are if you need any support.

The post Spark to momentum (part 2): Five years of Flexibility Works in action appeared first on Flexibility Works.

Here, Lisa Gallagher looks back on our early days, our research and our work with hundreds of Scottish employers. In part two, Nikki Slowey shares her thoughts on our social purpose as well as what’s coming next for Flexibility Works.  

Nikki and I co-founded Flexibility Works five years ago. We’d each failed to find the flexibility we needed when our first children were born, and we’d both walked away from jobs we loved as a result. We realised we shared the same deep frustration with the rigid Monday-Friday 9-5 working week, and we shared the same passion to change it.

We saw opportunities for all kinds of people, not just mothers, to do brilliant work and manage home, family and health needs. And we saw opportunities for employers too – to retain talented workers, to reduce sickness and absence rates and to create happier, healthier and more invested teams that ultimately delivered better goods and services.

We’d already been working together in this field for several years, and put our existing knowledge and experience to good use in planning Flexibility Works to support employers to enhance their flexible working. Little did we know, a global pandemic was about to shake the world’s foundations and that flexible working would play such a significant role in helping organisations to survive!

As we reflect on our work and impact over the last five years, it’s heartening to see how our spark of an idea has transformed into a wider momentum for lasting workplace change because (we know you know!) flexible working really is good for people and for businesses.

In some ways, it feels like we’re only getting started. Flexible working is now much more of a household name but one in three Scottish workers still can’t work flexibly, and there are inequalities that aren’t yet budging – for example the less you earn, the less likely you are to work flexibly. There’s still so much to do.

Surviving the pandemic

We opened for business in April 2020. Yep, we know that’s exactly when lockdown began but a global pandemic was very definitely not part of our launch plan! The advent of enforced home working reinforced the need for our services. But even we weren’t prepared for a business launch with no face-to-face interaction at all. I still remember the madness of trying to set up a new bank account when all physical branches were closed and services were in complete disarray. Ditto, the challenges of sourcing laptops and equipment for our small team of staff while simultaneously home-schooling and caring for our children – Nikki and I have six boys between us. It makes my eye twitch just thinking about it…

Our first resources focused on helping teams and managers transition to remote working, and our first clients also wanted support with home, and later hybrid, working arrangements. Over time, we’ve seen the trends in what our clients are looking for broaden, and we get just as many requests for support from frontline employers now too.

Flex today

Flexible working is now the norm in most workplaces with 67% of all workers working flexibly, up from 46% before the pandemic. Hybrid working, one form of flexible working, is stable too, with three quarters of office workers staying they can work from home some of the time.

In the last five years we’ve seen big legal changes that have made it easier for people to ask for flexibility, and the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill will make it harder for employers to unreasonably refuse flexibility too. We’re proud to have been part of the movement pushing for these positive changes, whether that’s by responding to government consultations, or taking part in working groups looking at how the Scottish Government in particular can influence employers and create policies that encourage greater flex. (Check out our flexible working law page if you’d like more info).

Research success

We’ve been conducting research on flexible working since our inception, and our Flex for Life research is Scotland’s most comprehensive analysis of flexible working. We strongly believe in making data-led decisions, and we know our robust insights are valuable to our clients and networks as they decide workplace policies. It also means we can instantly de-bunk some of the high-profile opinions that bubble up about flexible working too.

Supporting hundreds of employers

We’re delighted to have directly supported more than 150 employers of all shapes, sizes, industries and locations to offer greater flexible working that suits the organisation and its people.

We’ve also welcomed more than 1,000 of you to our online and in-person events. We’ve covered all sorts of topics from what legal changes are pending to how to increase flexible working for frontline workers, and how to leverage flex for better recruitment.

Standout clients for us include the General Teaching Council Scotland, where we worked with the senior leadership team over the course of several months, and managed a staff listening exercise. Having built up a strong relationship with the team, we helped them shift to a more trusting and flexible culture where people could work hybrid, and mangers were confident in assessing performance and productivity.

We also worked with Edinburgh-based Seebyte, a software company specialising in maritime technology, to refine their approach to hybrid working. Their focus was on retaining skilled employees, and appealing to new and diverse talent in the software sector. We supported their leadership team to create a more cohesive approach to hybrid, taking into account the views of employees, and we also supported their managers to more confidently lead their teams in a flexible way.

More recently we loved working with commercial landlord Ceteris in Alloa, supporting some of their frontline teams to trial new ways of working including a compressed 4-day week for the maintenance team and new working patterns for the receptionists. This gives staff extra time to themselves and saves money on travel, and also benefits Ceteris because ‘inconvenient’ maintenance – eg. clearing a snowy car park, or drilling holes for new cables – can be scheduled early, or late, when most tenants aren’t in the office.

We have many more success stories like these, where our work blends sessions with senior leaders, staff surveys and feedback sessions, training for teams or managers, and clear, practical action plans our clients can take forward.

Strong team and network

Nikki and I know our successes are down to the brilliant team around us. Our staff team is as dedicated and passionate as we are to improving the world of work, and we’re always hugely grateful to our board members who give their time, professional insights and general all-round-hugely-reassuring-support.

And I will name check our current sponsors: Arnold Clark, SSE, Quorum and Pursuit Marketing, and our funding partner the Scottish Government. Thank you to all of you.

You can read Nikki Slowey’s thoughts on our social purpose and what’s coming next for Flexibility Works in the second part of our story.

The post Spark to momentum (part 1): Five years of Flexibility Works in action appeared first on Flexibility Works.

Our research with 208 unemployed Scottish adults shows nearly three in 10 (28%) feel a role with flexible working would make the difference in enabling them to secure a job.

When we applied this to the Scottish Government’s estimate that 89,700 adults are currently unemployed and looking for work across Scotland, we calculated the number of people who could get into work with a flexible job is 25,116.

The potential positive impact of more flexible jobs is huge. And yet, our data also shows nearly half (48%) of unemployed adults we spoke to said they’ve been put off applying for roles because no flexibility was mentioned in the job advert. Analysis by Timewise shows only 33% of Scottish job adverts mention flexible working.

Actions for employers and Scottish Government

As a result, we’re encouraging employers to explore greater flexibility for your workers and better promote existing flexible working in job adverts and during the recruitment process. It’s in employers’ interests too because leveraging flexible working in recruitment attracts candidates from wider pools of talent.

We’re also calling on the Scottish Government to better support employers explore new ways of working, and to be bolder in setting expectations for employers, as part of measures to reduce economic inactivity and poverty.

Our co-founder and director Nikki Slowey said: “For many people, flexible working isn’t just a perk, it’s absolutely essential in order to work at all. And yet, even with the rise in flexible working due to the pandemic, there are still not enough flexible jobs for those who need them. More frustratingly, many employers don’t mention existing flexible working when they’re recruiting, making it even harder for people to find the flexibility they need, and harder for companies to fill vacant roles.

“We’re encouraging employers to promote the flexible working they already have, and to explore where they can create flexibility when designing and advertising jobs. All the evidence shows this is hugely beneficial for employers too by attracting more quality candidates from wider talent pools.

“Flexible working can include working part time hours and/or working from home. But it can also include small changes, such as being able to start and finish slightly earlier or later, input when rotas are being set and easy opportunities to swap shifts. These small changes can often make a big difference to people’s lives.

“There’s a greater role for the Scottish Government too, if we’re serious about tackling child poverty and rising economic inactivity. Holyrood can’t set new employment laws, but as a major funder, contract commissioner and leader of national economic projects, the Government should be more proactive in influencing business leaders to embrace flexible working, and it should provide more support to employers that want to change but don’t have the resource and internal expertise to do so.”

Kirsty’s story

Kirsty Emans got back into work earlier this year thanks to a flexible catering role at Our Holy Redeemer’s Primary School in Clydebank, Glasgow. Kirsty had been out of work for several months after last-minute rotas in her previous job made organising childcare for her eight-year-old daughter a nightmare.

Kirsty said: “I often wouldn’t find out the next week’s rota until Friday night. It was so chaotic that some mornings my daughter didn’t know who would be collecting her after school. I’m a single parent, and while I do have some family nearby, they have their own children at different schools. They can’t collect my daughter at the same time.

“It was emotionally and mentally draining. In the end I left because the stress was too much.

“I was out of work for a few months and then I got some brilliant help to find a job that suited me and my family so much better – a school catering role that was inside school hours and term time only.

“Now I can drop my daughter off and pick her up easily. And I don’t have to worry about school holidays. I’ve always worked in catering and hospitality, and I love working with food, so this job is still doing what I love.  And it’s great to see all the kids each day too. It really has changed my life. So much weight has been lifted.”

Scottish Government support

The Scottish Government part-funded our research. Business and Employment Minister Richard Lochhead said: “I welcome these insights in support of our policy aims to tackle economic inactivity and improve the working lives of people in Scotland.

“With the limited powers at our disposal, the Scottish Government has supported flexible, family-friendly working from day one of employment where we can. Through initiatives like our Parental Employability Support offer, we’re helping more parents move into work, progress in their careers and boost their household incomes.

“We are also committed to funding pilot projects over the course of 2025-26 to help employers implement flexible working, improve recruitment practices to create a more diverse workforce and offer enhanced support for disabled employees.”

Parental employment

Our report Flex for Life 2025 – Are we nearly there yet?! looks specifically at parents’ experiences of flexible working and their efforts to find flexible jobs – a key group for the Scottish Government, given its priority to reduce child poverty.

The report shows too many parents are still locked out of work because they can’t find the flexibility they need, especially around children. The biggest barrier to work, cited by 42% of all unemployed parents, was lack of flexibility around childcare.

Other key figures from the report include:

• Nearly three in 10 (28%) unemployed parents say a flexible job would enable them to work. This is higher for mothers at 37%.
• 43% of unemployed mothers say flexible working is the single most important factor in their job search. 15% of unemployed fathers say flexibility is their top priority.
• 45% of all unemployed parents say it’s been difficult finding information about flexible working for roles.
• A third (33%) of unemployed parents have turned down job offers because of a lack of flexibility in the role.

We know there are other barriers to work for parents, such as a lack of affordable quality childcare, but creating more flexible working opportunities would benefit parents and their families, employers and wider society too.

The post Flexible working could help tens of thousands of Scottish adults into work appeared first on Flexibility Works.

The resignation of Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes this week caused politicians of all persuasions to talk of a ‘loss’ for Scottish politics. Whether or not you agree with her approach, Ms Forbes is undoubtedly a gifted and successful politician. And she’s announced her intention to leave because her job and family life are incompatible.

While there are specific questions over how Holyrood ensures diversity among the people making decisions about how we live, this is also a cautionary tale for all employers.

It’s a reminder that talented employees will leave if their job is too big, or too inflexible, to manage alongside home responsibilities. And it’s a reminder that it’s usually more diverse groups who are the first to go – people with childcare needs (despite progress, that’s still mostly mothers), people with other caring responsibilities or health conditions and disabilities.

Inclusive workplaces with diverse workforces are proven to perform better than those where everyone ‘thinks the same’. Creating human-sized jobs that can flex round needs and responsibilities outside of work is an essential part of that.

Demand for flex among parents

In her resignation announcement Ms Forbes said she didn’t want to ‘miss any more precious years of family life’. So many parents will empathise with that. Add in that childcare is often hard to find and/or expensive and there are many good reasons parents want and need to work flexibly around their children.

Our research with more than 800 working parents in Scotland shows three quarters (75%) use some kind of flexibility in their role, significantly higher than the Scottish national average of 67%.

Of the 24% of parents who don’t currently work flexibly, 63% would like to, meaning the very vast majority of Scottish working parents either already work flexibly or would like to.

Impact on ability to work

Nearly one in five (18%) parents who work flexibly told us they’d have no choice but to stop working completely if their flex was no longer available.

Some groups feel the impact more. The figure for mothers is 23%. That’s almost one in four mothers who work flexibly potentially dropping out of work if the flexible-working-glue holding work and home life together is taken away.

The figure is higher for lone parents at 26%, and higher still for parents in poverty (30%). It’s highest for parents earning the least (less than £20K a year), and parents who live in a household where someone has a disability or long-term health condition, both at 31%.

Why creating more flex is worth it

Creating more flexible working opportunities can help many people, not just parents, manage their work alongside personal needs and responsibilities. Many people only want small amounts of flexibility, such as to work from home occasionally, or to start and finish a little earlier or later in the day. It doesn’t have to mean huge changes for employers.

Flexible working unlocks significant business benefits too. Our research with Scottish employers shows three quarters (75%) think flexible working helps them retain good staff, 59% say offering flex has improved the quality and quantity of candidates applying for roles, 69% say greater flexible working has reduced sickness and absence rates and 64% say flex has helped them have a more diverse workforce. Offering flexible working isn’t just about being ‘nice’ to staff, it makes business sense too.

Getting personal

Ms Forbes’ experience reminds me of why my brilliant co-director, Lisa Gallagher, and I founded Flexibility Works. We are both working mothers (with six boys between us). We both wanted part time arrangements to manage big jobs we loved and the demands of being a parent. Neither of us got what we wanted. It was fulltime or bust. We know first-hand how much talent is leaving the workforce because of a lack of flexibility. And we believe (through every fibre of our bodies) that greater flexible working is a win-win for people and employers. That’s why Flexibility Works exists to help employers find the right solutions for their people and their business.

Holyrood

As an employer, Holyrood has unique challenges in how to attract and retain talented politicians that reflect our nation. There should be parents, carers, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, or with disabilities to represent us all when decisions are made in how our country is run. Kate Forbes’ resignation is a reminder of what happens if we simply shrug and say ‘that’s just how it is’. Smart employers are changing how people work. So should Holyrood.

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