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Christine Armstrong: ‘If you believe an organisation can only function if everyone is in the office...are you trying to punish people or trying to increase your talent base?’


‘Flexible working has transformed the office’


Workplace expert Armstrong to speak at Travel Convention. Ian Taylor reports


Flexible working is here to stay despite resistance from some employers because the office regime was not working pre-pandemic. That is according to writer and


consultant Christine Armstrong who will address Abta’s Travel Convention in October on the changing workplace. The author of a book on work and


motherhood entitled The Mother of All Jobs, Armstrong told Travel Weekly: “I’ve been researching the world of work for a long time and had a clear picture of what wasn’t working pre-Covid.” She argues office work was


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“designed for a household where one person works full-time and the other doesn’t work or works part-time” and says: “It suits people without caring responsibilities or who have a partner at home. But in the last 30-40 years, we’ve moved away from that.” Laptops and email saw work “seep out of the workplace into the home” and “days got longer”, she says. “Covid ripped a plaster off a


wound. For large numbers of people who have been able to work differently it has been liberating.” Yet employers and senior


employees sometimes don’t get it. Armstrong argues: “Offices reward seniority and as you earn more you think the office works. A lot of senior people are keen to get back to five days a week. They like people in their offices. It makes them more confident. But there is enormous resistance.” She suggests: “If you want people


in the office, how much are you willing to pay for that? It may be sensible to offer greater flexibility


Continued on page 54 travelweekly.co.uk


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