Flex to Win: How Smarter Working Drives Equality and Results

WACL's ambition is for 50% of all leaders in our industry to be women, right up to CEO level. Last year, we launched our "Levers for Change" series for the Female Leaders' Club to drive systemic change at all levels, fostering a more inclusive industry landscape.

Following our recent MADFest North discussion on "Work Like the World is Watching" and the evidence that diversity drives business results, we're returning with a focus on workplace flexibility. Specifically, we'll explore how organisations that embrace a "Flexible First" approach can accelerate gender equality to everyone's benefit.

Gender-balanced businesses outperform others by 29%, and two-thirds of both men and women value flexibility at work. Offering flexible working not only enables more women to build lasting careers, but also boosts productivity across the organisation - delivering significant commercial benefits.

Emmy Greener is the People and Culture Manager at MediaPlus UK. She tells us about their journey to becoming a flexible first company and the benefits this brings.

1. Tell us about Mediaplus UK's journey to being flexible first. How did your company start to embrace flexible work? Was it a gradual shift or a more sudden change?

Our approach to flexible working has evolved over the years, but has always been centred around ‘people, team and client’, which are the key considerations that need to be satisfied when thinking about what’s right about where you work, when you work and how you work.

Finding the optimum relationship between the three is not a ‘one and done’ conversation, but rather a continual discussion around where balance can be struck and involves considerations around the benefits of working remotely vs working in the office. Whilst it is typically assumed that the former is better for ‘heads down’ thinking and the latter better for collaborating and collective creativity, this is of course different for everyone and must be considered when looking to implement flexibility. 

We have now set up our agency so that we can utilise these moments as much as possible and our ways of working is based around client pods, team days and all-staff anchor days, which we have found has enhanced how we work with one another, whilst also keeping the elements of flexibility required for people to balance their personal and professional lives.

1. What’s one key learning you would share with other companies looking to adopt flexible work?

It’s always important to keep in mind that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another, and to keep communications as open and honest when having these conversations, whilst working within the art of what’s possible. In this sense, you never really stop learning about the numerous upsides and potential challenges to navigate regarding flexible working.

Alongside this, ensuring that you’re having the conversation constantly to ensure that your flexible working policy evolves and serves the employees, teams and clients that it represents is key. One way in which we ensure that we do this is through continual employee listening, which can be through stay interviews, exit interviews, psychological safety and engagement surveys and other data points such as ‘Campaign’ and ‘Investors In People’ surveys. 

This is complimented by targeted 1-1 interviews with our employees where we specifically ask about our people policies every 18 months. These interviews enable us to gather rich data on the current needs and opinions of our workforce to either amend policy, implement training or review our current practices.

1. What's one key piece of advice you would share with other companies looking to adopt flexible work?

Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable as an organisation and to re-examine long standing practices and questioning ‘does this still work for us?’

In 2023 – 2024, we took part in a pilot scheme programme through ‘Pregnant Then Screwed’ and ran three internal workshops, one of which included a conversation around flexible working. The conversation was open and honest, but it also became apparent that biases around flexible working were still present in pockets, and we learnt that there was some unpacking and learning to do around this.

We pride ourselves on our flexible working approach and I think by creating spaces for these conversations of discomfort and exploration allows you to make sure that your approach reflects the business, your clients and your workforce. Whilst at first it may feel uncomfortable to learn that you’re not where you think you are or what you previously thoughts may no longer be the case, these conversations allow you to then take steps to examine this and continually improve. 

1. What are the biggest benefits you've seen from adopting a flexible first approach?

Flexibility is a big indicator of trust in your employees; feeling trusted is a huge factor in individuals being engaged, motivated and productive. This is reflected in our recent psychological safety and engagement survey, in which we found our engagement levels were at 92%, which I believe in some part can be attributed to the flexibility that we allow our employees. Whilst this isn’t the driving force behind implementing a flexible working approach, it is definitely a great side effect.

It’s so important to remember that flexible working isn’t just relevant or beneficial to parents, it’s beneficial to all. Everyone’s time – regardless of circumstances – is equally valuable and allowing your employees to work flexibly shows that you value their time and that you promote work-life balance.    

1. How did you go about implementing flexible work policies and practices?

Implementing flexible working policies and practices is best when supported by direct data from your employees, which we collected through ways of working workshops, stay interviews, exit interviews and surveys. Supporting this with your knowledge on the ways of working with your clients is key, so that you can knit together and balance the needs of person, team and business. This has allowed us to evolve our approach over the years and stay close to the wants, needs and values of our employees.

However, I understand that this can be resource heavy and not always viable for a business, so I would say that the best first step would be to conduct a staff survey to gather the opinions of your employees on flexible working, and what this looks like to them. You can use this data as a jumping off point to creating a policy, even in a very basic form. From a simple policy, you can garner reactions, feedback and begin to see in real time the impact of this change and make amends and tweaks as time goes on.

Find resources to help you progress, including the#FlexibleFirst checklist, at wacl.info. ​