Happy to Talk Flexible Working

Too few jobs are being advertised as suitable for flexible working, restricting the talent pool from which employers can recruit. Move to an assumption of flexible by default, encouraging your hiring managers to consider how a role can be done flexibly from the start.

Encourage your hiring managers to think about job design, and the kind of flexibility that would work in the role, before recruitment – and then tell candidates you are ‘happy to talk flexible working’ when you advertise the role. This will give potential qualified applicants the confidence to ask about alternative patterns of work; and you the confidence to know how to respond.

One simple step can change the way you recruit candidates – and the diversity of those candidates – for good.

“Seeing the Happy to Talk Flexible Working strapline and logo on the advert for my current job was such a relief. At that point, it was like a lighthouse amidst a sea of adverts for full-time and seemingly inflexible jobs. I knew I wouldn’t need to minimise the difficulties I knew I’d encounter juggling work with two small children. It made my organisation a hugely attractive place to work.”