Campaign launched for quality flexible jobs


A campaign has been launched to help workers wanting to work flexibly, following research that found that nearly 80% of such workers feel the jobs market is broken for them.


Of five million job adverts analysed in the second half of 2015, just 8.7% offered salaries of £20,000 a year or more for full-time equivalent posts combined with some flexibility. The research was conducted by Timewise, a flexible working recruitment consultancy.


This compares with flexibility being offered for 20.2% of lower-paid jobs (£14,000 and above) reflecting a strong correlation between low-paid and part-time jobs specifically.


Among flexible quality jobs advertised, 56.5% were part-time jobs, with 24.7% stating openness to unspecified forms of flexible working. Home-based or remote working jobs accounted for a further 12.6% of the job ads. 


In response to the findings, Timewise has launched the Hire Me My Way campaign, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, which aims to have one million part-time or flexible jobs advertised annually in the UK by 2020. This is around three times the current level.


Timewise co-founder and joint CEO Emma Stewart said: “The lack of flexible hiring in the UK affects everyone searching for such jobs. Transform hiring, and you have the potential to bring tangible change to millions of families unable to raise their earnings or progress their careers, because they are trapped by their need for flexibility.”

http://hirememyway.org.uk