Home » Flexible working in Brighton
A lot of companies in Brighton are now offering flexible working to their employees. Flexible working has a lot of advantages to the right sort of person, but the question is, are you that sort of person? When you think flexible working, you think work life balance. You can spend more of your waking hours structuring your activities in a way that suits you, and this means you can often fit in more personal time, or time with your family.
There are a lot of different ways of working flexibly, and if your employer offers one type or another then this might affect your choice of whether you want to take it up and give it a try.
It’s all about how many hours you work to get your job done, and it depends on having an employer that is results led and able to understand the benefits from having happy workers who attend to their job at their own pace. Annualised hours working means just this – you vary your time spent at work throughout the whole year so that you get your job done. If you work on projects that have intensive busy times balanced out by quiet empty periods then this might be just the sort of system for you. You get a full time income but your hours often resemble those of a part time worker.
If you only want a bit of flexibility then part time flexible working might be the way to go. Maybe it is just for one, two or three days a week, with the other days working in the office in a traditional way. Or maybe it is the afternoon or morning that is flexible. If you work less then you are likely to be paid less, and you need to inspect your contract carefully to make sure what your rights and obligations are.
Jobsharing is increasingly popular, particularly in governmental jobs. It’s a bit like working part time, and you often have the responsibility of a full time job but lots of time to spend in the activities you prefer, such as looking after your family or studying for exams or a degree. If you just want to work for two and a half days a week then a jobshare might be just the thing for you. A job share can only be done by organised people who can cooperate with other people who they rarely meet for extended periods of time. And you need to be able to give up some of your autonomy and trust your jobshare partner’s responsibility for doing your work when you’re not there.
If you still want to work the same number of hours but at times that suit you instead of the traditional nine to five then you might like to work in a full-time flexible working environment. You can rearrange your hours to suit you so long as you put them all in running from week to week. You still earn a full wage but have a bit more freedom.
Working from home is another form of flexible working, and you can do this either full time or part time. You need to be able to set up an office in your home and be able to motivate yourself for long periods of time without having someone watching over you. Some people love the flexibility offered from teleworking, but others feel alienated, they lose the ability to social network, and feel that their career path is stunted compared to colleagues who remain working in main offices.