Opinion

Bimpe Archer: Flexible working - it turns out you can after all

People with disabilities have found, when properly supported, it has evened the playing field with able-bodied colleagues
People with disabilities have found, when properly supported, it has evened the playing field with able-bodied colleagues People with disabilities have found, when properly supported, it has evened the playing field with able-bodied colleagues

YOU can’t do anything until you can.

I first used that phrase to silence a grumbling child during the debacle that was home-schooling at Archer Towers.

It’s about the only thing that has survived relentless cross-examination from our five-year-old proto-barrister.

As the torrid period we are living through grinds on (and on and on and on), I’m realising how true it actually is.

This week saw new proposals from the UK government to give all employees the right to request flexible working when they start new jobs.

Moving at unaccustomed speed, consultation is already being launched on allowing all employees to request a flexible working arrangement from their first day at a new employer.

Before the pandemic workers had to wait until they had been in their role for six months before either being knocked back or deciding it wasn’t worth the stress and hassle to ask.

A lot of us had drunk the presenteeism KoolAid.

I vividly remember standing in the office proclaiming how, while some of the newspaper’s functions would be able to be done from home, there was “no way” other bits of it would work.

There was never any question of the Irish News not getting out, so at the time I was picturing us travelling into work every day with the car equivalent of the old `press card in the hat’ and trying to type at our computers in full hazmat suit.

In fact two days later I was perched on my bed manning the nightdesk from a laptop for a paper produced entirely remotely.

I eventually progressed to the dining room and thence (as it became clear the situation was not going to be as temporary as the world first thought) to the erstwhile bedroom of our youngest child.

I haven’t met anyone whose work is expecting them to return to the office full-time if and when the pandemic runs its course.

Hybrid-working, it seems, is here to stay.

Yet almost none of their workplaces would even entertain the notion until they were forced to by a global catastrophe.

The Department for Business first started examining the options for flexible working in 2019, including working different or condensed hours, job sharing and remote working.

Its new proposals would see employers required to respond to requests for flexible working more quickly than the current three-month maximum and explain why any requests were refused.

When an open access public health journal conducted a rapid review of the mental and physical health effects of working at home (WAH) in November it identified a range of challenges for employers.

It found a “complex” health/work relationship requiring organisations to formulate formalised WAH policies that consider “boundary management support, role clarity, workload, performance indicators, technical support, facilitation of co-worker networking, and training for managers”.

Eighteen months after offices closed most responsible employers should have these in place.

While these changes will benefit businesses (several studies have shown employees are 47 per cent more productive working remotely) and those employees who have found an improved work/life balance, there will be more profound gains for society.

People with disabilities have found, when properly supported, it has evened the playing field with able-bodied colleagues.

Data shows they have been taking fewer sick days as they were able to manage their condition better by working flexibly.

This has included being able to take short breaks to manage their health issues, easier toilet access and less exhaustion and pain from long commutes to work.

Considering the harsh toll which the pandemic has been taking on our disabled friends and neighbours, it is only right that they should at last find some form of parity from the new work landscape which is emerging.

Whether this will be the case remains to be seen, but perhaps now employers have learned, when it comes to improving working conditions and accessibility, you can’t do anything until you can.