The HR Leadership Series: Flexible Working and Technology

Just how flexible can a workplace really be when it comes to working hours and holidays? That’s the question under discussion in the third episode of our HR Leadership Series.

HR expert Dr Anthony Hesketh and AdviserPlus CEO Nick Bradley have been looking at the big issues for 2019 in our weekly videos. Last time, they focussed on how economic and employment trends were changing the way we view work.

In episode three, they look at some of the more innovative – and headline-grabbing – ways in which companies are changing the way they offer employees time off.

Dr Hesketh, of Lancaster University, said that there is a ‘dark side’ to some modern policies involving cultural changes to holiday and flexible working.

He said: “I think it was Virgin and Richard Branson who said ‘we are not going to stipulate how much holiday you take a year – you decide’ and that sounds wonderful to a point but the question then becomes at what point you have a holiday. For those of us who do a lot of work from home, because of flexible working practices, at what point do you say, in the evening, ‘enough is enough’. You then start to impose different stress levels.”

Nick Bradley said he thought this should be linked to performance – and said he’d once given an employee six weeks off because they’d met their sales targets. He said: “It was incredibly powerful, culturally, in the business.”

In the video, Dr Hesketh also discusses the importance of data – and how companies that accurately and effectively track data on their people perform better.

To view the episode in full, just fill in a few short details on this page and you’ll get free access.

Also, keep an eye out for the next episode in the series, where the discussion will look at generational issues in the workplace.

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