Flexible working in British Transport

Earlier this month the Government announced their commitment to introduce legislation that will make flexible working more accessible by supporting The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill.

The Bill will introduce measures that will allow people to have a greater say over when, where, and how they work. I welcome the introduction of this legislation. But I don’t think we need to wait for it to become law to give our people choice in how we best protect the public.

I know some don’t consider flexible working and policing a good match. Historically, police leaders have felt the operational demand and requirement to provide a 24/7 service to the public to be prohibitive to flexible working.?

I do not share this view. Actually, I wonder if the 24/7 nature of policing, in fact, brings greater opportunity.?Does it not force us to think outside of the box to get better coverage, draw in broader experience whilst reducing burn-out?

The working restrictions brought about by the pandemic gave many their first experience of flexible working. People were told to work from home, isolation for the vulnerable was imposed, many juggled home schooling and we all attempted to create some kind of normality amongst the fear of getting ill and the endless supermarket queues.

Suddenly, it wasn’t about choice – it was a necessity to keep the vulnerable safe. And with that, all the reasons to not work from home became irrelevant and as leaders we were forced to trust large numbers of our people to get on with their work without physically seeing them.

In a testing time, they did just that. It became clear to me that there was a need to embrace this experience and bring more flexibility into the way we work in policing and that this was a possibility for roles we may not have considered as ‘flexible’ in the past.

When I joined BTP, I was encouraged to find that the force had a programme of work on this very initiative. They had supported the shift in ways of working throughout the pandemic and fully intended to use this as a lever to roll out a permanent approach to ‘Working Flexibly’.

The approach allowed local managers to agree individual ways of working with their people based on their unique circumstances. There was no minimum ‘in’ day requirements, no fiddly forms to complete or contract variations made.?Leaders had the freedom to agree what was best for their teams and people who wanted could opt to work in the office full time.

I fully support this bold and ambitious approach, knowing that the investment that had been made in upgrading our devices and rolling out Micrsoft365 would mean that our people had the kit they needed to work in this way.?We are currently reviewing our achievements and early indications are that we can take this journey a step further and stretch our ‘Working Flexibly’ ambition.

However, when I look outside of BTP and discuss flexible working with friends and peers from other organisations I am surprised to hear that rather than increasing the flexibility they offer, many are creating rules and restrictions on the way their people work.?I hear of increases in minimum days in the office, of roles still being location specific and physical presence being linked to performance.?That’s not my experience.

I also hear about buildings full of people all sat at desks on teams calls with no engagement with the people around them – which utterly defies common sense.

As senior leaders we often talk about empowering our people.?What I am witnessing happening does make me wonder how many of us genuinely mean this.

A senior leader in BTP spoke to me about a conversation with a friend who was doing that very thing; requiring people to work from the office as they didn’t trust them to work from home.?A discussion took place which ended with the friend stating that ‘your people must be different from ours’.?But are they? I don’t think so – what is perhaps different is the culture we have created.

For me, the key component for flexible working to become the default is trust.?At BTP we work hard to build a culture where you are given that trust from day one. If your role allows it, we will let you make the decisions about where, when and how you do your work.

Our people know that this trust comes with an expectation that they will perform well in their role to deliver a fantastic service.?If they meet this expectation then flexibility will continue, however if they break our trust or if we identify that flexibility negatively affects their performance then it can be removed.?Alongside this we commit to measuring their performance on outcomes rather than outputs – creating an adult working relationship that does give that empowerment to people that they have been promised.

The 2021 Work Reimagined Survey by EY reported that nine out of 10 people want flexibility in where and when they work. 54% are likely to quit if they aren’t offered the flexibility they want and 48% of employees believe their company culture has changed and got better since the beginning of the pandemic.?

The National Police Chief Council agree that policing is not so unique that it can ignore the shift in expectations of employees. The Police Service does not exist in isolation from the workforce trends that are changing and challenging perceptions of flexible working. Police officers and police staff, current and future, are seeing the changing landscape and are better informed than ever on how modern employers are responding.

What the above doesn’t tell you is that there’s benefits for the Force too.?At BTP we have reduced our estate and our carbon footprint and travel and accommodation costs are down.?I also know that some people have been able to move home and stay with us because of the flexibility.?

This is only a small part of the picture and a unique benefit to BTP as a national police force. You can fall in love in London and move to Sheffield, still doing the same job, in the same force. As a police family that spans three countries, you might say we had a head start in challenging presenteeism!

I have commissioned a review into the benefits of our new ways of working. I would like to know if the benefits promised in the ‘working flexibly’ business case have been achieved.?The Chief Officer Group were promised lower turnover, less lost days due to sickness or special leave, more promotions outside of London and improved business continuity. Rumour has it that we have achieved this and more - I’ll be sure to report back when the results are in…