Mancunians share their opinions on flexible working

National World - LocalTV

Since the Covid pandemic, flexible working has become the new normal for many more people.  Virtual meetings, flexible working hours, and more working from home has been on the increase since many businesses were forced to adapt in 2020 to the restrictions of the pandemic.  With more employees valuing flexibility when it comes to where and when they work, research from Payfit shows half of us would reject a 15 per cent pay increase if it meant giving up workplace flexibility such as working from home.  New rules are coming into effect from April 6 this year, allowing many UK workers to request flexible working from day one of a new job.  We spoke to people in Manchester about their opinions on workplace flexibility.

Transcript

00:00 Since the COVID pandemic, flexible working has become the new normal for many more people.

00:05 Virtual meetings, flexible working hours and more working from home has been on the increase

00:10 since many businesses were forced to adapt in 2020 to the restrictions of the pandemic.

00:16 With more employees valuing flexibility when it comes to where and when they work, research

00:20 from PayFit shows half of us would reject a 15% pay increase if it meant giving up workplace

00:26 flexibility such as working from home.

00:29 New rules are coming into effect from the 6th of April this year, allowing many UK workers

00:34 to request flexible working from day one of a new job.

00:37 We spoke to people in Manchester about their opinions on workplace flexibility.

00:42 I work at school and I like working with people.

00:47 I don't like being at home and I know people who have worked at home and have hated it

00:52 and gone back but then a close friend's husband, he loves it and stays at home.

00:57 Me personally, no, I like going to work.

01:00 So what about you Lily, are you thinking about it in future jobs?

01:05 Well I've actually just started thinking about it whether I want to go into more commercial

01:09 industry because I do photography.

01:13 So it's either if I do that or if I wanted to get even more of a degree in teaching so

01:18 I go more that kind of route.

01:19 So I still have yet to figure that out.

01:22 Do you like to be out working?

01:23 I do like to be out working, yeah.

01:25 I think it's crucial to be honest, if you look at most modern workplaces actually and

01:30 what we do in them, most offices aren't really set up for the type of work that we do, at

01:36 least that I do in the knowledge sector.

01:38 I mean I'm a programmer and it's a noisy place, the office, a lot of the time so I find working

01:43 at home, flexible work, in a much better way to be able to do that.

01:47 I've never really had an issue being able to get to know colleagues and meet up with

01:51 people I've never worked with.

01:53 And also if you're working for a large multinational you're working with international colleagues

01:57 anyway, so being in the same office has never been an issue for anything collaborative either.

02:03 Yeah, I'm a scientist so I work flexibly anyway but for me it's perfect because it's the perfect

02:08 blend of collaboration and then also getting on with things.

02:12 So like Tarek said, I can't write a paper when I'm in the office, there's just too much

02:16 more interesting things going on so I definitely prefer that kind of flexible.

02:21 And also there's core hours where obviously everyone's kind of on point but I'm not a

02:27 morning person, I'd much rather start later and work well into the evening and I think

02:32 flexible working really helps with that.

02:34 My office space is actually in London but I live up in the North West so flexible working

02:38 has to work for me, otherwise I'd have to move.

02:42 So from that perspective, yes it works.

02:44 I think from the whole workplace environment I'm not necessarily, I don't necessarily think

02:49 it's a good thing but for me it works at the moment so I'm not going to do it down.

02:55 But I think it also creates a problem within the workplace and culture and learning, particularly

03:01 for a younger generation.

03:02 I'm of an age where I've got my skills, I just crack on and get on with it, whereas for

03:09 the younger generation they're not getting that sort of learning experience from just

03:13 hearing what's going on around them.

03:15 I'm not actually working but I think it's vital, I think it's a really important part

03:19 of a working career to have that flexibility, yes.

03:24 Most of my friends that are still working have flexible arrangements, in fact my daughter

03:28 who works in London only works two days a week from London and the flexibility of that

03:34 is crucial.

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