Vox Pop: How will new legislation on flexible working requests impact on agencies? (Part Two)

Sean Singleton, managing director, Digital Annexe -

“I don’t see these new rights necessarily as a new development. Agencies have always had to offer a degree of flexibility to attract valuable staff. For example, many working mothers often like to work part time. At Digital Annexe we have a very experienced CFO in Anne Varney who works only 3-4 days a week. Therefore Anne gets the work life balance she needs and Digital Annexe has a senior executive on a part time salary. It’s a win-win for both parties, and this is the only way the new legislation will succeed. It need to work for everybody involved - the agency, the individual and most of all the clients!”

Tim Hutchinson, director, RE:SYSTEMS -

"Flexible working hours have been a positive part of our culture for over five years. However, faster working methods and more connected devices are starting to foster a 'work when you need to' mentality, which if not balanced with a 'switch off when you need to' mentality, is going to result in reduced productivity and lower morale in individuals. As a business, providing flexible working hours shows you are committed to your employees and in turn results in higher retention rates, better productivity, but most importantly - a happy team!"

Helen Darlington, head of creative strategy, INK Digital –

“Our response to flexible working hours is the same now as it has always been. We’re a very open and flexible agency already. As long as the work is being done, the deadlines are being met and our clients remain very happy, then it’s not a problem to adjust your working hours to best suit you and your schedule. It’s all about communication for us, we’re not clock watchers and everyone is responsible for managing their own time to ensure they hit their own deadlines. As a digital agency, we’re also very lucky that we can do a lot of our work on the move, from home or from a different location if we needed to as most of what we require access to on a daily basis is online.”

Sarah Pettay, client services director, 7thingsmedia -

“Within reason, most agencies will accept these types of request if they have not implemented such parameters already. Agencies team up with different genres of clients with very diverse necessities from all across the world. In essence, the services require them to be flexible not only with the clientele, but also with their staff, in order to supply what the client needs for success. Most definitely, flexible hours, working from home or on the road is completely feasible in such a tech savvy world. Also, as managers, it’s best to look into how and when their top talent works best with clients. This is not a world where one size fits all for all strategies and projects. The legislation raises the question - “How and when do we collaborate best with each particular client and employee?”

Helen Moulton, Blue Skies Marketing Recruitment -

“Although the new legislation stipulates that employees can request flexible working, the right for employers to reject the request based on a sound business reason could mean that few marketing agencies approve requests. However, we need to take a long-term view on flexible working: adopting a forward-thinking approach will not only increase productivity but raise moral amongst staff too - crucial factors in today’s marketing and creative industry where businesses have to fight to attract the best talent.

“The traditional agency model will need revising to accommodate flexible working arrangements; clients may have to adjust to having more than one main point of contact, account managers may have to get used to sharing campaigns and contacts with their colleagues, but with a huge number of digital tools available to help collaboration and information-sharing, there is no reason why flexible working should disrupt an agency-client relationship.”

Read Part One here.