As we spend approximately 1/3 of our lives at work, it is important that we gain satisfaction from our employment duties and working conditions to maintain good wellbeing.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on how individuals can adapt to different types of working, by allowing staff members to not only discover different modes of working, but also which methods were best suited to their needs.

One such idea which has been suggested to improve wellbeing is through introducing opportunities for flexible working across health and social care settings. Flexible working allows staff members to have more control over how, where and when they work. The NHS People Plan (2020-2021) outlines its support for this idea:

“The NHS will continue to commit to offering more flexible, varied roles and opportunities for different types of flexible working. We believe all our NHS people should be offered the chance to work flexibly, regardless of role, grade, reason, or circumstance. We know it’s not always immediately easy to accommodate individual work preferences, but becoming a more flexible, modern employer in line with other sectors, gives us the opportunity to retain our existing people and attract new talent with to work with us. Flexible working is about more than just retention. It can unlock new opportunities and contribute to people’s mental health, wellbeing and engagement with their role, and we know that in the NHS more engaged staff leads to better patient care.”

Results from the NHS Staff Survey (2021) illustrated how keen staff members are to achieve a work-life balance, however do not necessarily have this implemented through flexible working.

  • Just 44% of staff felt that their organisation is committed to helping them balance their work and home life
  • Just over half of staff (52.1%) said they achieve a good balance between their work life and their home life
  • While 66.7% said that they felt able to approach their immediate manager to talk openly about flexible working, just over half (53.9%) of staff members were satisfied with the opportunities they have for flexible working patterns.

Research is ongoing into the impact of flexible working on employee wellbeing, however emerging evidence suggests that positive effects exist for implementation of flexible working for employees, employers and organisations.

  • Flexible workers reported having higher job satisfaction, commitment, and productivity compared to those who do not work flexibly
  • Flexible working reduces employee absence rates
  • A systemic review by Shiri et. al (2022) found that employee-orientated flexible working may have small benefits for mental health, including reducing burnout and emotional exhaustion.
  • A study of 26,000 female UK workers reported that the quality of a job (including increased flexibility and autonomy) is positively associated with reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms (Carrino, Meschi & Belloni, 2022; in press). The researchers found the flexibility to arrange working times and the degree of autonomy workers have were two key characteristics of having the largest positive effect on mental wellbeing.
  • The UK parliament website have published an article on the impact of flexible and home working arrangements.
  • Mind, the UK’s mental health charity, suggest some advantages of flexible working are:
    • Being able to have control over working hours, which can help to improve work-life balance
    • Having the option to avoid rush-hour crowds and traffic, which could ease financial costs associated with travel and reduce stress
    • More freedom in being available to attend medical appointments
  • NHS England have also published case studies of flexible working across various healthcare settings.

NHS England have published recommendations on how to introduce flexible working into the workplace. These include:

Staff have the legal right to request flexible working after completing 26 weeks or more of employment in a particular work environment. For details on this, please visit www.gov.uk/flexible-working

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