A long time ago I started a conference speech by saying “‘ flexibility” was the most radical word I knew. It was a conference on services to older people and my target was the traditional Home Help service which at the time was only available Monday to Friday 10 to 3. There was a very limited evening and weekend service. The result was older people who wanted to stay at home and were assessed as capable to do so with the addition of a little evening and weekend support were given little choice but to be admitted into a Residential Care Home.

The reason for this lack of flexibility in providing support was that the existing workforce had been recruited on contracts to fit in with school hours, the typical carer /home help being a woman with young children. The workforce saw no advantage in adopting a shift system involving evening and weekend work, it didn’t fit in with family commitments. The result was a service that met the convenience of staff not the needs of older people/ clients. Hence the need for radical change and the statement that “flexibility” was radical.

If I was addressing a similar audience today I would start by saying you can’t  provide the best service if you don’t provide continuity of care and that requires security of employment and income . In the case of the Home Care service that means the same people providing an individual with their personal care( dressing, washing ,feeding, toileting) not a succession of strangers.

 More generally “ the kind of insecurity once associated with the gig economy is now spreading through many sectors of employment , health and social care,hospitality, cleaning, hair and beauty, even previously protected middle class jobs in academia.” The evidence is the increased use of under employment, temporary contracts , part time work, variable weekly wages and zero hours contracts. The most shocking and high profile example of insecurity of jobs is the recent mass sacking of P&O employees. Increasingly employers are using this fire and rehire strategy to introduce  changes in working practises and inferior terms and conditions of employment. Referred to in management speak as, “ flexibility”.

If employees are ,”disposable” then there is little incentive to invest in their training and up skilling. Employees treated as comedies can hardly be expected to show loyalty to the organisation, have an interest in its success or wish to protect its image and this will be reflected in the attitude towards customers and the quality of service.

A flexible workforce does not have to be an exploited insecure workforce. Instead of punishing flexibility it is in an organisations long term interests to reward it because an agile organisation not only needs a flexible workforce it needs a loyal, engaged and positive workforce.