Hosted by Matthew Sanderson, Senior Resourcing Manager at RBS.

Despite UK workers having had the right to request flexible working for almost two decades, it seems that only 27% of the population actually take their employers up on it.

The government defines flexible working as a “way of working that suits an employee’s needs, for example having flexible start and finish times, or working from home.” Of course, some of the components of flexible working don’t suit all employment types, but most businesses will actively be thinking about what solutions they can offer to facilitate flexible working.

The concept of flexible / agile working certainly isn’t hot off the press. It’s been a buzzword for HR and Recruitment professionals for a long time… However, with the talent landscape being more competitive than ever, a clear focus on using flexible / agile working to retain staff, enhance engagement, attract talent and drive productivity is undoubtedly a top priority for most businesses. Overlay onto this contexts the lens that as companies increasingly compete on cost, it may mean less office space and more technology interaction virtually, impacting a whole range of HR interactions.  The future scenario appearing to be people working for more than one employer at the same time, often virtually and using technology to communicate/engage and where location/hours will increasingly be flexible?

Key items for discussion will include:

• Attraction and Assessment: How do we promote agile working opportunities and assess against the competencies / skill-sets needed to work flexibly?
• Employee Engagement: How can we get employees bought into the purpose and vision of our business and measure their engagement in a meaningful way?
• Learning and Development: What processes and resources are required to ensure employees who work remotely are receiving the right level of training and investment?
• Performance Management: How can we measure employees’ performance fairly and consistently in the absence of tangible ‘targets’, particularly when staff are often off-site?
• Reward: What changes might we need to make to pay structures to ensure it’s ‘output-driven’ as opposed to ‘hours-driven’?

Itinerary:
09:00 – Arrive and networking
09:30 – Introductions
09:45 – Discussion
10:45 – Coffee and networking
11:00 – Discussion
12:15 – Key takeaways
12:30 – Finish