{"id":142281,"date":"2023-02-13T11:25:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T10:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=142281"},"modified":"2023-02-13T11:25:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T10:25:21","slug":"how-to-be-flexible-4-ways-to-rework-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/how-to-be-flexible-4-ways-to-rework-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How to be flexible: 4 ways to rework work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last UK lockdowns are long past, so what happens now when it comes to how we work? Firms like Goldman Sachs called staff back into the office<\/a>, while other organisations are fully embracing hybrid patterns for their workforce.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Government-enforced at-home working behind us, now is when employers and employees have the opportunity to take stock and rework how they work for healthier, happier and more effective outcomes.<\/p>\n

For the Vuelio webinar \u2018Work, Life and Balance: The PR challenge of 2023<\/a>\u2019, Hera Comms<\/a> founder and managing director Anna Geffert, Atom Bank<\/a>\u2019s head of PR and communications Robbie Steel and Natwest Group<\/a>\u2019s assistant director, communications and engagement Sarah Beber shared the choices being made in their own companies and what is working for them.<\/p>\n

\u2018Like many organisations, we\u2019re still finding our feet,\u2019 says Sarah.<\/p>\n

Read on for ideas on what could work for you:<\/p>\n

1) Take time to rethink how you work<\/h2>\n

\u2018The pandemic changed the way we think about flexible working,\u2019 shared Sarah Beber about the changes that had to happen at Natwest Group.<\/p>\n

\u2018Prior to COVID-19 there were a number of us who worked flexibly, but there were areas and teams where it would not be seen to be the \u201cdone thing\u201d. Then COVID forced it on us. There were definitely people who had never considered it, who were suddenly doing it and loving it. We are still finding our feet; finding what works and what doesn\u2019t.\u2019<\/p>\n

2) Find new ways to connect with your colleagues<\/h2>\n

\u2018There are lots of conversations about how to make the most of the time in the office and how people can stay connected,\u2019 shared Sarah.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our team at Natwest are spread out – if I\u2019m in the office, a lot of them aren\u2019t. We\u2019re still trying to work out what is best for us and how to stay engaged. All the tried-and-tested channels are no longer tried-and-tested, not when you\u2019re physically and mentally in different places \u2013 it\u2019s an added layer of complexity and I imagine it is the same for many people.\u2019<\/p>\n

3) Evolve corporate culture to fit<\/h2>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not sure the four-day week would have happened had COVID-19 not happened,\u2019 admitted Robbie Steel, who shared how Atom Bank moved to a four-day working pattern<\/a> successfully. Could a four-day week work for other organisations now the world of work is changing?<\/p>\n

\u2018There are so many companies offering this now,\u2019 said Robbie. \u2018One challenge is the culture piece \u2013 you lose a lot of togetherness and the social part of work. At Atom, people mentioned that it wasn\u2019t the same after the height of the pandemic. That is one area we\u2019re trying to get back into the office culture.\u2019<\/p>\n

4) Like working from home? Just don\u2019t forget the benefits of face-to-face office time<\/h2>\n

\u2018Now we\u2019re seeing what flexible working can really do \u2013 what the pitfalls, dangers and benefits are,\u2019 said Anna Geffert.<\/p>\n

\u2018Junior people, just out of university, can really struggle teaching themselves to do their job while working from home \u2013 it is very difficult to teach newly-graduated people through osmosis; you learn so much being in-office. I\u2019ve seen this from other agencies, also \u2013 there is a huge skills gap at the moment. Some new employees are not as developed in skill set as you would expect from someone three years qualified.<\/p>\n

\u2018There has to be a happy medium. I\u2019m in office three days a week \u2013 what is called a \u2018TWAT<\/a>\u2019, I think! I haven\u2019t heard of anyone doing full-time in-office, or purely flex.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think it is dependent on sector, on business culture, and if you can physically do that. In finance, you can\u2019t have the tech at home; there are sensitivity and privacy regulations \u2013 I get that. But there has to be a conversation. And that conversation will become tricky. People could start losing out on promotions if they aren\u2019t in-office. How can you make sure people aren\u2019t unfairly treated just because they weren\u2019t there? They miss the boss saying \u201cDo you want to go for lunch?\u201d or when clients are in.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s the danger we are now seeing and need to be aware of.\u2019<\/p>\n

Watch the full webinar ‘Work, Life and Balance: The PR challenge of 2023<\/a>‘ for more on the future of work and the impact of the last few years on the PR and communications industry. <\/em><\/p>\n

Quite like working from home, either full-time or flexibly? Remember to keep it professional on work calls \u2013 here are pointers on video call etiquette<\/a>, with warning stories of high-profile inappropriate video call filters and childminding fails from the early days of the pandemic. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the Vuelio webinar \u2018Work, Life and Balance: The PR challenge of 2023\u2019, Hera Comms’ Anna Geffert, Atom Bank\u2019s Robbie Steel and Natwest Group\u2019s Sarah Beber shared the choices being made in their own companies and what is working for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":142285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3725,7238],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142281"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142288,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142281\/revisions\/142288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}