Blended and flexible working: what are they and what's the difference?

The popularity of remote working has rocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as charities look to ensure their staff can adhere to social distancing measures.

 

This has seen charities reduce the time workers have to spend on public transport and in an office environment. It has also seen those delivering frontline support to beneficiaries pivot help online, especially through digital video conferencing tools.

 

But flexiblility in the workplace is an ethos that was already gathering momentum prior to the current health crisis. This is largely a result of workers looking to improve their work/life balance, especially as many juggle increasingly expensive childcare commitments.

 

There are marked differences in how employers are adopting home and remote working. Among the main strategies are blended and flexible working.

 

Here we look at the blended and flexible working definitions, what they entail and how charities can benefit from deploying these strategies across their workforce.

 

 

 

Types of flexible working

 

There is a vast array of different types of flexible working as charities look to cater for the working needs of their staff.

 

This includes job-sharing where two people do one job and split the hours as well as part-time workers.

 

Flexitime is another form of flexible working where workers can choose their start and end time of the working day to fit in with other commitments (such as nursery and school pick up). For example, this could mean working 10 am to 4 pm instead of 9 am to 5 pm.

 

Compressed hours are another popular option. This is where staff members can work their usual full-time hours but over fewer days.

 

This can include compressing weekly, monthly or even annualised hours. In an annualised working hours arrangement, employees and employers can agree to working core hours with flexible hours added in. This can benefit employers too as the agreement could include increasing hours worked at busy times.

 

Phased retirement is another flexible approach, for older workers. This allows workers to retire when they choose through a staggered approach. For example, it could involve moving to part-time work before retirement.

 

Working from home is another key way charities can offer flexibility to workers. During COVID-19 this has been a necessity for many workers, with offices closed due to social distancing.