When we become parents, there is a constant juggling act between family life and our work life and for most this balance isn't right. This isn't your fault, guilt plays a huge factor when managing a career and parenthood, often we feel we cannot properly commit to either so we are left feeling unfulfilled in both. There is an imbalance that everyone experiences, but it is rectifiable. How flexible working can help Flexible working isn't a new term, is simply the ability to work flexibly to empower employees to manage their work around their commitments. The pandemic has shown that remote working (or working from home) is a great way for employees to feel empowered and juggle the demands of family life alongside work. The shortened commute time is just one example. Flexible working is gaining momentum and now is the time for parents to feel empowered to work flexibly. Here we're going to help give you some guidance on what flexible working options are available and how you can make it work for you and your family! What types of flexible working are there? As mentioned previously there is working from home or 'remote' working, this is great for being able to juggle various school drop-offs, and pickups, it enables employees to work wherever they want, as long as they have a secure broadband connection. Hybrid working is where some of your working time is split betweenwork remotely and in person. This is perfect for people who like the freedom of remote working but do actually enjoy connecting to people in person. Part-time is where you don't work full-time hours, this is really popular for parents who need to collect children from school or childcare, this doesn't need to be part of a normal working day, some part-time working patterns are full days but with extra days off to make the balance of the hours throughout the week. Condensed hours is a full-time workload condensed to longer working days to give extra days off. So if you have a 40-hour working week, split over 5 days is 8 hours a day, but if the role is over 4 days each day would be 10 hours with an extra day off each week. Granted this example is extreme, but it was more to show the numbers easily! Job share is where one full-time role is split over 2 or more employees to satisfy the need for part-time work from the employees but the requirement for a full-time role is satisfied by the business. How can I work flexibly? As explained there are a number of ways to work flexibly as an employee so why not start a new job search today? There are plenty of flexible working recruitment agencies to help you find a new perfect role. However, in some industries there are limitations but flexible working can come in many forms. An area that often gets neglected is retraining. Once you retrain in an industry or a role that is conducive to flexible working, life is already that little bit easier! There are a huge number of retraining options available, with many courses being suited to parents so can be done in the comfort of your own home and at times that are suitable i.e in the evenings or at weekends. Courses aren't too expensive to enrol in either and once complete can change your career path to work flexibly. Another option that often gets overlooked is franchising. Franchising is where you set up and run a business that is already part of an established business model. The risk is a lot lower than setting up your own business and financing a franchise is generally easier if requiring a loan. This is a great way to get true flexibility as you can base your business' working pattern on your demands. What can I do now to make a change to my work-life balance? Looking at the options above you can look for a role that is flexible and is more suited to your family life or if like many parents you're feeling deflated and ready for a complete change, retraining is a great option! Doing something you love makes working much easier too. Or why not try to explore the ideas of franchising? See what franchise opportunities are available and find out if it's right for you. Alternatively, if you're in a role you like but there isn't that flexibility you need, you can always 'ask' for flexible working. Wait, what?! I know, it's something that we do not like to do, but it has proven to be a very simple and easy way to get the flexibility you need. Asking your HR manager for flexible working is a great way to get that change right now. But how? Be prepared, make a plan of how your flexible working will work for you and your company and make a backup option in case the first isn't accepted. Plus ask for a trial for one month and make sure you show how effective it has been for you and the company. How can I find out more? To find out more about flexible working and how to achieve the work/live balance you deserve, visit @befreeflexibleworking on Facebook or Instagram, or visit www.befreeflexibleworking.co.uk.
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