Nine out of ten staff value flexible working more than 'glossy perks', says Investors In People survey

Nine out of ten employees value flexible working more than perks such as gym membership and wellness apps, according to a major study conducted on behalf of Investors in People (IIP), the Government backed accreditation for businesses.

The YouGov survey, commissioned by IIP, suggests firms need to focus on workplace fundamentals in order to retain staff and not glossy perks.

Employees who responded to the survey said the best way to improve overall well-being at work is through flexible working, supportive management, improved rewards and recognition.

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The survey found that 96 per cent of Yorkshire employees surveyed saw flexible working as a valuable initiative, higher than any other region or nation in the UK.

Investors in People's CEO, Paul Devoy. He said: "The thing that employees value most now is flexible working." (Photo supplied by IIP)Investors in People's CEO, Paul Devoy. He said: "The thing that employees value most now is flexible working." (Photo supplied by IIP)
Investors in People's CEO, Paul Devoy. He said: "The thing that employees value most now is flexible working." (Photo supplied by IIP)

IIP supports around 220 clients in Yorkshire and the Humber and more than 80,000 staff in the region are personally accredited.

Paul Devoy, the CEO of IIP, told The Yorkshire Post there was a hub of rail expertise around York, which means that many rail companies are signing up.

He added: "Health and social care is another massive area for us and construction.

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"About 10 years ago we completely re-designed our standard that we benchmark organisations against. We created a new standard around what drives productivity.”

He said the UK has 2.4m accidental managers; people who have been put into management positions without any training.

Mr Devoy said IIP could work with businesses to make them more productive and improve workforce engagement.

He added: "We look at culture and the way work is structured; which is a big debate at the moment from the perspective of whether people should be working from home or the office.

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"The thing that employees value most now is flexible working. People will take a job on a lower headline salary if they have the right to flexible working.

"People are balancing work and home life and are conscious that commuting is expensive.

"They saw that they could make home working work during the pandemic, so they wonder why they're being forced to come back to the office now

"To manage a remote team takes a lot more skill than to manage a team sitting around you on a bank of desks.

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"As a manager you need to be very organised about the way you engage with your team on an individual and collective basis.

"The way we do it, is managers have regular one to ones with employees throughout the week.

"If a group of people are meeting to discuss a project or work on a task that will take more than a couple of hours, it’s better they meet face to face to do that.

"What we don't insist on is people commuting into work to do tasks that they could do at home just as well. If we're bringing people together it has to be for a purpose. There's a whole myth built up around the office; the belief that you would never be unproductive if you were in the office. That's a lazy way of thinking. However, I think it's good for young people to come into the workplace. There is too much dogma about this subject.

"Different things work in different situations. I wouldn't want a teenage apprentice sitting on the edge of her bed working from her laptop at home.”

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