Flexible working holds the key to productivity and wellbeing

A survey of over 100 freelancers, small business and corporate employees has found that flexible working could provide the key for delivering growth and productivity for businesses and improving people’s wellbeing in the future.

In the survey which asked people about how their working patterns, to try and throw some light on what the future of work could look like, almost 95% of respondents believed or strongly believed that if people have control over how and when they do their work they are generally able to perform more effectively. Over 76% of respondents also agreed or strongly agreed that working from different environments such as home, coworking spaces or a change in office location enables them to be more productive.

More than 75% of respondents believed that businesses could operate more effectively by using more agile, self-employed temporary resource and 87% felt that business could lower costs by employing more flexible models of working and distributed teams.

With support and education, flexible working offers cost savings and performance improvements 

While 95% of respondents felt that people could be trusted to work without supervision if the right support is available and, overall, responses show a positive shift in attitudes and perceptions towards flexible working, there is still some education to be done on exactly what it means

Han van Oudheusden, co-founder of collaborative coworking space Works Social, added:

“The data we’ve had back has been fascinating. We wanted to challenge the notion that ‘Flexible Working doesn’t work’ and we have done just that. There is undoubtedly an appetite for greater flexibility in the workplace, while flexible working and coworking are fast emerging concepts, they are not yet fully understood and there is some education to be done, but it’s coming.”

Although people reported increased productivity and wellbeing, 46% of people did still feel guilty for taking time out of ‘normal working hours’ and 51% felt stressed in trying to catch up on work they’d missed. There was a fairly even divide in people that felt flexible working undermined other people’s attitudes to how they worked and those that didn’t. Positively though, 84% of people felt more relaxed If they were able to work in a way that suited them.

The future of work

In terms of getting the most from a talented UK labour market, Ross Cox, CEO at Dispace commented on what this means for the future of work, saying:

“I agree with the 95% of our respondents who felt we should be focusing our attention on delivery and effective communication without the need for set hours, days and locations for getting work done. To improve productivity and create a positive sense of wellbeing among employees, we should make it easier for people to be employed by increasing our use of teams that work remotely and on flexible hours.

“For businesses to be successful in the future they should be providing access to a range of workspace solutions that suit the current and future needs of an individual on a day to day basis. That might be reliable technology, coworking, remote teams, virtual meetings or sharing time between home and office working.”

The survey was curated by a collaboration of flexible workspace, coworking and digital nomad ambassadors Dispace,Works Social, and Big Old House, with support from Digital Risks and D2N2. It explored people’s attitudes to the changing world of work from freelancers to full-time employees. Everyone was invited to share what their version of work looks like.

Get your own copy

For more information about the survey data and to register to receive a copy of the full report when published, contact us at hello@bigoldhouse.com.

#workspacerevolution #futureofwork #Coworking #Nottingham #dispacelife #futureofwork #agileeconomy

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The Collaborative Future work experience pilot scheme ran for three weeks in October at our home, contemporary coworking, shared office and event space, Works Social after raising over £3,400 through crowdfunding earlier this year.

Six (18-24 year olds) not in full-time education and employment took on flexible, paid work placements hosted by Works Social’s community of freelancers and small businesses. They were partnered up with 12 businesses including photographer, The Picture Whole, zero waste shop, Shop Zero, us, marketing and PR consultancy, Big Old House, Skate Nottingham, wellness and life coaches Impact People and Change and Bespoke Life Coaching, film experience and events freelancer, Based on a True Story Cinema and student opportunities firm, Organised Fun.

With career aspirations in retail, social media and PR, personal training and other freelance entrepreneurial endeavours, the work experience provided a variety of skills they could use in their future careers.

Hosted at Works Social, which provided a safe base for everyone and removed any barriers for freelancers or businesses based out of their own homes. Han van Oudheusden, co-founder of Works Social said:

“We’re all about collaboration, bringing together like-minded people and helping people follow their passions. It’s great to see so many of our members being involved in a scheme that helps them minimise any potential risks and overheads of employing interns/apprentices, while also gaining benefits of the skills and fresh perspective that young people can provide.”

At Big Old House we welcomed Shanai, a recent media graduate to support us with our own marketing, carry out research for social media content and to complete a review of our clients’ digital profiles. Here’s a little snippet from Shanai’s experience with us:

“For the pilot of the collaborative futures programme I have been working with Rach from Big Old House, a PR and marketing consultant. Some of Big Old House services include, marketing, PR, copywriting, content and social media. Rach has been amazing throughout my time at Big Old House she made me feel very comfortable to talk to her about any questions I had and she was very approachable, and as someone who likes to ask a lot of questions that was a great thing to have.

I am very passionate about magazine writing and social media, which is one of the reasons that I chose to take part in this scheme as I thought it’d be a great opportunity to learn new skills and develop old ones. Since taking part in this scheme I have done a lot of exciting things such as going to a design meeting, which was a great opportunity to get to see inside of an actual office within the field that I would like to go into, and see first hand what happens in design meetings. I have also been doing social media reviews for clients that Big Old House work with, I hopefully want to get into either digital marketing, social media or magazine editing so this has been a great opportunity to get a glimpse into the sort of things I would like to get into the future.

My only downside is that it’s not for longer. I would of loved to work with Big Old House for a while longer to develop more skills and get a better understanding of how the social media sector works. I guess overtime, with more funding that would hopefully be possible. Overall I have  really enjoyed this experience and I think it is a great idea, as a lot of companies don’t like to take you on without any experience, which makes it difficult to get a job. However with this scheme, it is a great opportunity to get that experience that you can put on your CV.”

We were sad to see Shanai go too, but wish her all the best in the future and are really pleased that she’s got some freelance marketing work with one of the life coaches on the pilot.

Tessa Cooper, Founder of Collaborative Future and the organiser behind the scheme said:

“I can’t quite believe that only in April this was an idea fizzing around in my head and now, thanks to a successful crowdfunder and some amazing support we’ve had six young people at Works Social on paid placements. It’s been great to see so many people building connections, learning about different ways of doing business and developing their skills to make work work for them!”

The Collaborative Future scheme was made possible thanks to official supporters Works Social, Cleo., Armakuni and Tech Nottingham and the many other supporters of the crowdfunding campaign. The ambition is repeat this scheme all year round and make it possible for other people to replicate the work placement model in other cities.

If you’re a freelancer or small business who wants help with taking the hassle out of finding suitable work experience candidate or want to help share your skills with a young person to further their career prospects, contact Collaborative Future.

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