FLEXIBLE WORKING
day-to-day and trying to create working situations for people that they are comfortable with and where they can work best. “We enter the Vitality Health Healthiest Workplace award every
year. [Forster Communications came first in the small business category in 2017 for the second year running.] That is how we track our well-being progress, how we focus on and think more about those issues. We have one initiative where we give people five minutes’ extra
holiday for every walking commute or bike ride to work. That can be up to two-and-a-half days a year. That works as an incentive because we have asked people what they want.”
Switching off … Forster Communications’ approach to flexibility and well-being also encompasses combating the always-on syndrome that was highlighted in the CIPD’s research on mobile devices, which reported that a third of employees who had remote access by digital means to their workplace felt they could not switch off in their personal time. As well as mindfulness training, the company encourages
everyone to turn off their work emails and updates when they are at home or not working. This may mean line managers reminding junior team members that they do not have to be seen to be working outside office hours by sending emails. “I think it is the line managers’ and senior team’s responsibility
to do that and take the lead by saying ‘you do not have to prove that you are doing a good job by looking busy’,” said Gillian Daines. “That’s partly a confidence requirement and partly because young
people are used to being always connected and online. It is part of our responsibility and something that we need to keep an eye on.”
A realistic approach Nevertheless, the reality of the modern-day workplace and of PR is that there will be out-of-hours work and intensive periods. “We work on a set period of time of 40 hours a week, so we invite people to take such time off in lieu,” Ms Daines said. “We ensure people aren’t working more than a maximum number
of hours over a set period. Basically, if you’ve worked a weekend, in theory your working week could end on Wednesday. In practice, it doesn’t always work in that linear way, but we plan and make sure people are able to take that time back, have a break, and recharge as appropriate. People can always talk to their line manager if they are struggling, but, on the whole it works quite well.” Ultimately, flexibility at Forster Communications comes back
to the business. “We want to be the business that people want to work for and are proud to work for, and that has sustainable success,” said Gillian Daines. “How we make our money and how we run ourselves internally
are completely aligned; we can’t separate them. For us, flexibility is not about bending over backwards for employees, but about balancing business and individual needs.”
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