Flexible working in social care

A series of products to help make flexible working work well

Unison, Social Workers Union and BASW England - the professional association for social work and social workers

In 2021 Community Care found that access to flexible working is the biggest benefit that social care workers seek when looking for a new job. In practice, it can be hard to come by.

We have worked with social care teams, occupational therapists, trade unions and professional leads to discover more and produce a suite of products to help you make flexible working work as part of wider agile working arrangements.

In developing the products, in partnership with the Social Workers Union, the British Association of Social Workers and Unison, we wanted to be clear that flexible working can work for social care – social workers, occupational therapists, social care assessors. Equally, we recognise that this guidance is transferable across a whole range of roles, professions and organisations and for individuals, teams and managers.

What is flexible working? Six principles How to make flexible working work for your team Practical tips

Ensure support is available

Professional and peer support

Regular access to professional supervision is even more important
Consider face to face professional supervision
Ensure a holistic approach. Check-in on well-being and working arrangements
Encourage team members to take time to support each other
One size does not fit all

Flexible working works differently for different teams and that is ok. Support team members to find ways of working that work for them. Be proactive in supporting other teams to work flexibly and make sure you draw on the support of your peers and colleagues so you can make it work for you.

Draw on wider organisational support: OD colleagues can help you change how you work, support with well-being and resilience techniques and reviewing how flexible working is working. Access to appropriate equipment, tech and office space that supports flexible working is essential.

Support to work differently: Rethinking how we organise our work can be an important part of working flexibly. What tasks can we do when and from where? How do we do them? Who is best placed to do what? Be proactive in seeking out colleagues who can help you think this through as a team.

Secure your allies

Trade unions: Trade unions can be a great source of support for developing flexible working arrangements. They will be able to help you to think through practical arrangements, share learning from other places and signpost you to helpful resources.
Activators at every level: Encourage people to step up as flexible working activators or champions.
Communications: Be proactive in communicating how you are working to embed flexible working and the benefits you're experiencing. It will send a strong message about the culture you are trying to create and reinforce to team members that they are valued and supported.
Checks and balances: Think about where you can build in flexible working checks and balances. PSW audits, staff surveys, team meetings, 1-1s and quarterly team check-ins to review how flexible working is going. Be proactive in making any changes required.

Pitfalls to avoid Top tips

Who we've learned from

We help councils to improve the way they deliver adult social care and public health services and help Government understand the challenges faced by the sector. We would like to thank the many people who have shared their experiences, learning and challenges about how to make flexible working for social care work in practice - social workers and social care assessors, occupational therapists, team managers, service managers, professional leads, and trade unions.

We started with a question - can flexible working for social care work? Through our many conversations, we have learned that the answer is most definitely yes. We hope by sharing what we have learned from others, it will help more social care teams to make flexible working work for them.

Mindsets matter

Success is dependent on compromise and negotiation by all. We may not all be able to have our ideal working pattern but with honest adult to adult conversations, we can negotiate and compromise to secure arrangements that work for us all.

Start from trust - it's what matters most. Managers can see how productive a social care worker is by the output of work. Put your energy into building great team relationships and monitor in detail only where you have concerns.

Work as a team to make flexible working work for you. Develop a culture where you check in and look out for each other, work together to ensure service cover, and spend time together informally as well as in regular meetings.

Flexible working is for managers too!! What managers at all levels do is as important as what they say. We heard many times that managers modelling flexible working enables social care teams to feel like they have permission to do it too.

Practical tips

Taking a team approach:

Plan for time together with purpose e.g. team meetings and learning
Shared calendars and WhatsApp groups help
Encourage team members to check in so they can plan to be in the office together - It’s ok to catch up informally
Look out for each other

Think carefully about core hours: Core hours restrict flexible working. True flexibility balances the needs of the service with individual and team working preferences. Focus on ensuring service cover at agreed times and experiment with moving away from the concept of core hours.

Start the conversation from recruitment: Advertise jobs as available with flexible working and talk about how you work and individual preferences at the interview. Be clear that you work through compromise and negotiation. Review arrangements regularly to ensure new starters are not disadvantaged.

Induction and support to students and ASYEs takes more effort:

Buddy up with a team member who can show them the ropes
Ensure less experienced staff have access to a mentor
Consider a team rota to ensure time together in the office with new starters or shadowing.

Below is a transcript for this podcast.

Kath: Hello, my name is Kath Smythe, and I'm your host for today. I'm in Cheshire East with for social work colleagues who work in the adult social care service in Cheshire East. And today we're focusing on ‘Can flexible working work for social workers?’

In 2021, Community Care found that access to flexible working is the number one benefit that social workers look for when they're looking for a job, and yet access to it in different parts of the country is at best patchy. I'm working with Partners in Care and Health, the partnership between the Local Government Association and the national Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, to understand why this is and what happens when flexible working works well for social workers.

I spent the last few weeks talking to social workers and others who work in social work teams like assessors and occupational therapists, as well as team managers, service managers, professional leads to find out what's going on out there.

So I'm in Cheshire East today, a local authority that stretches from the leafy suburbs of Wilmslow and Knutsford through Macclesfield, Congleton, Crewe, and down as far as Nantwich and Newcastle Under Lyme, and I'm here because, of all the social work teams I've spoken to, it's here that flexible working feels the most embedded.

What do I mean by that? It feels like how they work around here. It's what they do. It's available to everyone. And whilst they'd say themselves, it's not perfect, in the main they're reaping the benefits,

I’ve spoken to team managers in other parts of the country, who've told me they'd love to support their social workers to work flexibly but can't see how they can manage the pressures of such a busy demanding service with enabling people to work flexibly. So, I want you to hear directly from some people who are making it work here, so that you can take that learning and hopefully help to nudge your own organisation on to make flexible working more of a norm for social workers up and down the country.

Before we get started for the purposes of clarity, I'm using flexible working as an umbrella term to encompass the many different types of flexible working, working from home, hybrid working, flexi time, compressed hours, part time hours, term-time only, sabbaticals.

So, let's get started. Hi, everyone. It's great to be here with you today. Let's do a quick round robin, can you tell us who you are, and what your normal working pattern is?

Rebecca: Hello, I'm Rebecca. I'm professional lead for adults in Cheshire East and my working hours. I'm full time but I do compressed hours over a nine-day fortnight.

Sue: I am Sue, a social care assessor and local area coordinator. I do 30 hours a week, predominantly at home, but we do flexi time as well.

Phil: Hi, I'm Phil, I'm a practice manager for a community team. That's equivalent to a team manager in other local authorities. I work condensed hours, so I do nine days in 10.

Sarah: And I'm Sarah, my substantive post is a practice manager but I’m on secondment as a locality manager, an area team manager, and I work compressed hours, that's 37 hours, but I have a Wednesday off each week.

Kath: So, we've got a good spread of different sorts of arrangements today. From part time through full time, flexible, and compressed. So, my first question is can social can flexible working in social work teams work?

Sarah: I think it can, I think when we’re sensible about it, we always have busy days, and it's hard to then catch up on paperwork. And what I've found since doing compressed hours is that you can make the day busier with all the meetings or the appointments you need to do but then catch up and a little bit of quiet time to make sure you're up to date. So, you're less stressed because you've got protected time to focus on both elements. We have done it for a while, I've been on compressed hours since 2017, and we have a number of staff that adopt this approach, and we make sure that we have spread it out. So, we've got cover across the week across the day. So, it doesn't have a detrimental impact on either the individuals we're supporting or our colleagues.

Kath: That's really interesting that you say you feel less stressed with it because when I've talked to people, other people they've been a bit concerned about social workers working compressed hours feeling like could potentially add stress. So, can you say a little bit more about that?

Sarah: So I think as we're probably all agree as long as it's an element of trust, and we monitor in the normal way, what I think people do, or I do, is we feel like there's a bit of give and take, more so because we're getting this flexible approach, so we're willing to give back a bit more as well and put in we're not so tired. I think that'd be another reason why it works well. So, before I decompressed hours, I was working nine to six every day that I worked, whereas now I'm doing that but having a day off. So actually, I'm less worn out and more efficient, more effective. And so, things move and flow quicker. So, I feel less stressed for that and more in control. Whereas before, I was burning at both ends of the candles trying to keep up to date, and you just you are less productive, even though you think you're going to get everything done with an extra hour I'll do that night. Rebecca, do you want to join in?

Rebecca: Yes, I was going to say I think over time, because we've had flexi time for a long time, but you found that you were just building flexi time on your five days a week, whereas doing compressed hours, it's so easy to do eight hours, you'd normally do eight hours, 8.2 hours a day, just in a normal day. So, it's sort of you get to the 10th day, and you know that you've got that extra day off. So, I think for teams, it's actually made it easier having, knowing where they're up to with their flexi time, rather than some colleagues in some teams building up 30 hours over a month of flexi time. So, it's sort of managed easier, because I think people are so conscientious and work and then tend to work over the hours. It's a way of managing and I think for the team managers, I think, the feedback I've had from them is that it does work and build the trust and the time in the teams to know where you are up to.

Sarah: I agree, I think the fact that it's when you're on a contract such as compressed hours and things like that, you've got your fixed days where you know you are off, so you can build it in, whereas adding a flexi day, and all of a sudden, I do feel that that added more pressure onto the team and the individual because they're suddenly trying to get everything done to take that day back. And then they're working more hours. So, it's a bit of a revolving door that's negative, you can't get off that cycle. I mean, flexi time has been great, but this I think is a far more efficient and effective way to manage things.

Kath: It's really interesting, so you've started to get into some of the benefits there, haven’t you, it definitely feels like there's benefits from a kind of wellbeing, managing the stress, managing the workload, depressurize jobs. What other benefits, would you say you've experienced from being able to work flexibly?

Phil: I think, because I think we've talked a lot in the past about sort of work-life balance and people managing the demands of work with sort of the other commitments and responsibilities that have in their own lives. And I think my experience in terms of managing a team has been that people, you can plan, in staff, think who's in who isn't in, because it's kind of planned for the work schedule. But I think also for the staff, I think it allows them to manage their own lives more flexibly, I think in terms of recruitment and retention, I think it's been really positive. I think now I would look, it is quite old fashioned in a way, this idea that we're all sat at a desk in an office at half eight in the morning, it feels a very outdated way of working really, and because a lot of what we do is out going out to see people working in the community. I think it's just how you as a team, support one another and find different ways to have peer discussions and to be there if you've had a difficult visit or a difficult phone call. But I think you know, the teams embrace that way of working and I think support one another, and so I think it's been very positive overall.

Sue: So, for myself, to follow up what Phil was saying is that, for example, on Friday, I went out on a visit Friday afternoon. And then when I got back home, I wrote my notes up on the Friday night and I wasn't going out, so I actually didn't finish work till 7.30, which I was really pleased about because today I know that I wanted to finish early because I wanted to go to a shop or something with somebody that could only go suddenly, but it fitted in with my work diary that I would be able to manage my own diary, which I really like, it really empowered me because I was very happy working Friday night I got my head down did my notes. And this afternoon, I've got the afternoon to go and do a job that I needed to get done. So that worked very well for me.

Kath: So that really says trust, doesn’t it, that really says trust, the fact that you're empowered to manage your own diary, the fact that you've got that ability to be really flexible, and that you know if you choose you wanted to work late that evening, so that gives you flexibility to go and do something this afternoon, but it's that trust to be able to do that. It feels really great. So, it feels like feel what I'm hearing is that you're saying, that social workers are benefiting from it. It's helping with the kind of management of pressurised, pressurised workloads, it's taking some of the pressure off, because it's more planned and more planned time away that everybody can plan around. So, what would happen? If it was somebody's planned day off, for example, and something urgent came in? How would that, how would that be managed?

Sarah: So, I think it's important that we protect those days that are agreed as our days off, otherwise, it quickly becomes we're just working everyday again. So as part of our flexible work request, we consider how we're going to manage that situation. So where possible, you're obviously planning to avoid a crisis, some things you can't predict. And if that was to happen, the person on duty or one of your colleagues steps in, and there's that, we do it both ways, so we support each other. And it does happen occasionally. But I think because the team are all getting the benefits of this flexible working approach. They're all willing to help each other a bit more than they were before. There isn't that same resentment of I've already worked my hours, and now I feel like something’s falling on me. So yeah, we just as a team, we pulled together and if it takes more than one person, because it's a more complex thing, then someone else will always volunteer because the team feels closer and more supported. It definitely feels improvement, if you agree with Phil, since our teams have been more able to take the steps to more flexible working people have felt more willing to give.

Phil: I think so differently, because I think it's, it's easier if someone says working, say, three days a week, for example, because then their colleagues know that there's two days a week that they're not in, it may be the duty worker or another colleague will pick up something if it's an emergency, but also because they may only be off for a couple of days, a lot of things can wait until that that member of staff then back in to pick up those tasks. So, I think it's I know, sometimes I think there's an anxiety that it can lead to chaos. But actually, I've found the opposite. It's actually because it's planned work schedules in terms of the days that people are working or not, it's much easier, so everybody knows who's in who isn't. So, as I was suggesting I think colleagues then will support one another and we'll help one another because you know, it's not someone just taking a day off ad hoc. And I find it much easier, I think to manage that as well.

Rebecca: And the thing, one of the things that got Sarah picked up on, it's managed so that everybody isn't off on the same day. So, the team sort of varies, and it's actually quite nice having a, I actually do have a Friday off. But quite often I will swap and change that Friday, but that's because my role is a bit more flexible. So, when people like having that Tuesday or Wednesday off, because it breaks up the week. So, think is managed in that sense, not everybody's off on a Monday, not everybody's off on Friday.

Kath: So how is that managed? Because I've had a team manager, team managers in other places saying to me, I'd love to support people to work flexibly, but what if everybody wants Friday off, and then it's going to be on me to step in and cover. Now I'm interested in how that's managed.

Rebecca: I think, it’s negotiation, but Phil and Saran might be able to help more in their teams, what they've done.

Sarah: Yeah, so we have a formal request process if we want to do this. So as part of that, we've got to consider the impact on our colleagues, as well as the benefits for ourselves. So, I've had one application recently of supporting the member of staff to make the flexible working request. And they wanted the Friday off. But we already had another person on Friday and had an open conversation with them as to why Friday wouldn't work, because we're going to frequently enter crisis. And that needs to be avoidable. Having that open conversation, they understood. So, they're going to have a different day off. What we have agreed is every now and then we might be able to be flexible, when there may be a particularly special weekend I need to get away for but we have to have those open conversations because if we don't, the system will then just fall. We've got to be sensible and practical.

Sue: When I first joined this team, I did have exactly that same conversation with my practice manager. And she said which days would you like to work? And we kind of discussed it, we had an open conversation, like Sarah said, and we came to an agreement of which core days and core hours I would cover. And so, like you say it's about trust, talking, negotiating and just agreement, and everybody knows where you are, then it works very well.

Kath: So, it feels like there's some real benefits to the teams from working flexibly. I'm interested to understand it bit more from the point of view of the people that you're supporting, what do they experience in terms of continuity of support, how does it work.

Sarah: So, I think there's always been an element where some people want a meeting to happen at a time, which is outside of working hours. And actually, by having this approach. It means the worker is not doing extra support and can be flexible. And that may be on an ad hoc, case by case basis. When we're meeting people also to tell them what days were available. Our emails are updated and our phone system so they'll know if it's going to be a planned day that we're off so they can be aware of what to do in that situation, so that they're not having a negative effect from this decision.

Sue: Yeah, from my perspective, working in the community. face to face with clients, it works really well with the flexibility and the trust that you get from your senior or your manager. Because, for example, a client the other week, he couldn't get to an appointment, and it's very difficult for him to get there. So, I was able to think to myself with my own diary without having to seek permission from my manager, because she just made, I was able to say, I can take him, I can support him there. And so, I changed my hours work in the morning, whereas I would normally work that afternoon. And it worked really, really well. And I probably gave a few more hours or minutes to my time, so Cheshire East didn't lose out. And I was very happy with it. Because it's, it empowers you when you can make your own diary, you feel trusted, valued, and I don't know, it’s very pleasant to work in this environment.

Kath: Sounds fantastic. And it sounds like from, from an end user perspective, people who you are supporting in that it's actually probably more flexible than fixed hours.

Sarah: I think so yeah. And also, sometimes people we’re supporting would like someone to support them, such as a relative, and they have work commitments, too. So, it does allow that little bit of flexibility, and you're more willing to give, aren’t you, because you're getting something back as well.

Sue: Definitely, for this client, it was invaluable, the fact that I was able to change my hours to go and help them and support them in the morning, you know, so for the end user, I think it’s very beneficial.

Kath: So, another thing that people have said to me is, how do you manage performance when you work in that flexible environment? Because, you know, as a team manager, you can't be there all the time, people are working over, you know, a longer period of time. So how do you know, people are being productive? How do you manage performance and what happens if you have concerns?

Phil: I think I would say, in some ways I manage performance, the same way I would have done in the old way, when we were more office-based, in terms of their, because you can see the work that people do, you can see the throughput. And you know, through supervisions and informal conversations in terms of what cases people are managing, the challenges that they're having, how complex the work is that they're dealing with. So, for me, it's been absolutely the same, you can you know, if someone's struggling, or the level of throughput isn't there in their work, or there's some issue that you may need to pick up or discuss with them, or if they've got any issues. Because to me, this way of working is very much built on trust. Because I feel with the staff that I support that they're professionals and that they have a professional accountability as well. Not just to the local authority, but with their registration as well. So, I feel that actually this way of working hasn't changed, for me very much the way that I monitor and supervise staff. So, Rebecca, yeah.

Rebecca: I was just going to say that I know from when I was working, managing a team, prior to this role, you had members of staff going out anyway, on visits. So, people in our role, we're not sat at a desk from 8.30 till five, anyway, it's not. So, you'd never be able to physically see. So I think, as Phil's just said, it is about the trust, and that's where you have to, you start from the position of trust, which then means you can sort of notice, and you'd notice by the work that was coming in, it's not really about the physical being of somebody sat in an office because somebody could come in 8.30 till five and sit there and actually not be productive at all. So, I think having this approach, and giving people that autonomy has meant that people give that bit more, I think, I think productivity seems higher than it was when we were all in the office.

Sarah: I agree. I think people definitely feel and I know, it's not about give and take as such. But because we work in an environment where you do have to put so much effort in it's not, it's not an easy job, but it's a very rewarding job, that you can get very tired and we're trying to set clear boundaries, aren't we, when to finish and things like that in terms of not overworking your hours. But this has allowed staff to feel like they can switch off a bit and they've still got more energy, they're not so worn out, they're not burning their self out, they're not more at risk of becoming unwell. So, productivity does seem to increase because they're more efficient.

Rebecca: But as just going to quickly say on that, there is a little bit that sometimes some people can almost work too much at home, because I know personally, I can be a bit bad for that at home. If I'm sort of doing something or writing something up, I might end up staying till half seven, eight o'clock, just because it that sort of fits with me but I suppose that's what managers will be aware of and there is a culture to try and make sure people aren't sending emails at 10 o'clock at night and things like that.

Sue: I for myself, my manager and I, we have a supervision every six weeks maybe, or probably more if the manager probably was worried or concerned about me, like everybody's said earlier. But within this supervision, that's where we go through our caseload. And we have a chat with the manager. And I guess my manager sees how I'm doing, am I getting through the case? Is everything okay? And I guess that time, as managers, that's when you probably would be able to make sure everybody, everything's going, okay, people are doing work or they're not doing much.

Phil: I think just maybe to pick up on that point as well, I think the technology that we've got helps enormously because it allows us to have a lot more informal contact as well, every day. So, it's not that because people are working more remotely, that somehow you don't have contact with each other. If anything, probably, it's as much or more sometimes than if we sat in an office because people can message or talk informally. And I know the team can have informal catch ups as well. Not just with me, but with one another. So, I would say that support is very much still there. And I think that technology very much has helped that. So, I think it's not that people are isolated, because I think sometimes maybe there's an anxiety that working more remotely can isolate people. And yeah, I think that is a risk. But I think that's the technology very much helps to maintain that contact.

Sue: Yeah, I think from my position, because I've only worked here, within this team, for a year. And I can say that it was all very new to me. And as Phil says, we have teams, so we can immediately just call the senior manager or we can call our colleague or somebody else, then straightaway face to face chatting with them, get the job sorted. And then you also, if you ring someone on teams, and they're not available, you can just send them a quick email message. And you know, immediately in our team, everyone, we're all working online all the time, so everybody replies, pretty much within five minutes, you'll get a reply, generally, something so I think you can actually directly get the answer that you're looking for very quickly, rather than, I think if I was in the office, and I saw my manager working away, I probably would feel awkward to step in and say, oh, excuse me, can you just help me with this or that, whereas I know a quick message, she will deal with that when she's got a minute to deal with it as well. So, for me, it actually works very well. And we also do meet up with other colleagues. We're on not just online, but we do meet face to face on occasion as well.

Rebecca: I think one of the key issues for this working has been the equipment, having the equipment, because prior to COVID, we didn't have the same, we didn't have the same equipment. You know, not all social workers have iPhones, the sort of phones that worked remote, they were just the old Nokia, I think, so yes, and having the equipment that has made a big difference. And like Susan's just said about the teams, people are able to see, oh somebody's green, I'll just quickly send them a message, you know, are you free to chat. So that's, that does help, you've got to have the infrastructure behind to be able to allow this to work.

Sarah: I think the equipment and the impact of COVID has kind of made this available to a whole other level, hasn't it, the flexibility not just from the non-working days or compressed hours, but the being able to work from the office, home, people's houses, it that's just made it even better from my perspective, but I do agree, I think some of the new staff and some of those that are less confident, have felt less worried about approaching us, because they can just quickly message us or call us. Whereas in the office, they were worried about adding something else to my colleague, or my manager. And we have I think in most teams, a general chat on teams where people can ask any support. We have ones we can ring managers, we have team meetings, some face to face, some remote, we have informal catch ups. So, I think we're learning what does work and doesn't and tailoring it per team as well because each team is different.

Kath: So if one of your social workers that have been on a visit and it had been really challenging and really stressful, do you are you confident that they would reach out to somebody because the old days they’d come back to the team, wouldn't they, and you know, be able to have that chat and get that kind of emotional support. Is that there?

Sarah: I think so I think you know, the old days when they came back to the team it would be also luck of the draw who was in especially if it been a late visit. During the day absolutely fine because there’s going to be people in but if you've been out on that very late one on a Friday evening, the chances are people have left the office too. So, they know that they've got their colleagues, their managers and they can also see quickly who else is on, so you know, Phil's team is struggling and their manager's not in or someone else needs support. They can see who else is on from a manager, they know the wider network. So, they’ve got support. I've had staff ring me, and I have felt better having signed off. Sometimes, it can be hard, though. And if a member of staff is very upset, it does feel quite difficult having a conversation over teams, you probably would prefer to be in an office, if I'm honest, but they don't happen very often. So, to change the whole system and lose all the benefits for the occasional ones would be quite sad really.

Rebecca: Yeah, I think that's that is one of the challenges. And I've, that's one of the areas that I’ve come across for me within the new qualifiers, because one of the areas I sort of work with the new the qualified staff. And that's sort of nationally, that's one of the areas that's come up. It's not just the Cheshire East, you know, all lots of other local authorities have said, it's been very difficult for these newly qualified now coming in, because they've been students, whilst working at home sitting in a little room, then they've been newly qualified going into teams, and not actually physically into a team and not met all their colleagues face to face. So that I think is one of the challenges that we have had. But it has worked, because we've had team managers that have started throughout COVID, that never met their team physically face to face. And it worked by teams, it worked via having the WhatsApp being able to sort of communicate. So, it was just adapting. But I think that's been the biggest challenge. But as Sarah said, I think the challenge of that is far less than the benefits that we that we get.

Sarah: Yeah, and most of us don't live that far away. So if there is an emergency, and member of staff is in the office, I'm only 15 minutes away from working from home, so I can, if it was an emergency, dash in, and normally, you know if someone's going out on a difficult visit, so you can kind of plan some time into your diary just in case. Because you're having those supervisions with your staff, you know, if they're going out if they're a bit more anxious about the situation and also, as we would have done pre COVID, you know, if it's a particularly complex visit, or someone is anxious, or maybe it's new to them, you'd look at doubling up or supporting or all those normal things you would still do. So it isn't that often, thankfully. But I think the bit that we're still working on, isn't it, is that learning from naturally hearing everything that goes in the office and hearing your colleagues that may be really experienced don't know the answer, that reassures you that it's okay to still be learning. We're always learning but sometimes you doubt yourself, don't you, when you're on your own?

Rebecca: Yeah, I was going to say that's the feedback I've had from students and newly qualified, they miss hearing their colleagues in the office and learning through that hearing.

Sue: I think that, that Sarah and Rebecca are both right, I think if you're young and inexperienced, and maybe not so confident, that it's more difficult. There are people I've heard, a social care assessor, maybe has been on a difficult visit, and they're perhaps not as confident as other people, and they've gone home felt very alone and isolated. And so I think that's why because Cheshire East is so good, and they've got these great managers that they communicate with each other and talk and so putting into practice these little things that, as a manager, you might see that person that's a little bit, not so integrated with the team to make sure, for example, our manager, we have we had a meet up where we all went to the park and had a picnic. So it brought the team together, but not during work hours, it was lunchtime, I think we did actually have an extended lunch, which I'm sure was fine on occasion, but and to help that person maybe to get to know the rest of their team, because they're a little bit not so a bit nervous about that. So, I think all these ideas that you're these, this team here are putting together are important for managers to support those people who aren't quite so confident and knowledgeable and less experienced, and maybe young people.

Phil: And I think because I don't see it as kind of either or, I think you know, for those staff that that prefer to kind of be based in an office more often, and see their colleagues more frequently, they have that flexibility as well. So, it's not sort of one size fits all, and you have to either work one way or another. And I think the team as well, I think as its evolved over the last few years has learned and reflected on the experience of student social workers or newly qualified social workers how to help other colleagues who maybe don't know, the rest of the team as well. And sometimes it's given time and space for people to know who I contact if I've had a difficult visit, or I've had a stressful day. You know, I certainly find I have a lot more informal conversations over teams now. either before or after visit sometimes with workers in the team where they need that time and space to reflect and maybe sometimes that's easier to manage than actually working in an office when, as Susan was saying, you don't know necessarily when the manager is busy or free sometimes and I can manage that my time a lot more effectively and give time, I think, to the team when they need it. So, but as I say, I think it's important to recognise it's not either or I think the hybrid way that we're working, I think, gives people that that choice really. So, it's not being imposed on them. And they have that flexibility to kind of what works for them. And if they need to be in the office more and see the colleagues more and have some of those discussions, that is an option for them.

Kath: I'm interested in what you described as that social time because when you look at the research nationally, that’s what’s coming through, isn't it from increased flexible working people are feeling this sense of something's missing. So people really love the benefits but there's something missing. And that almost that permission, that it's okay to spend time, we're humans. We need that social connectivity. So, you know, I love the idea of a team lunch in the park, you know, making it okay that if somebody wants to connect with a colleague, they can they can whether it's face to face or in teams that it's okay to have a brew and a quick chat and that's fine. And that actually helps us to perform better as a team.

Rebecca: You know, I think that, again, is maybe one of the challenges. Within the teams, individual teams, I think it works really very well. Like Susan was saying, they’re adapting, they'll go for picnics, they'll have the team meetings, cakes in the office, but I think wider across the whole service, it's finding a way to then link back up because it's become something it can become a bit insular. We've got obviously the south of the locality in the north of the locality or east of the locality. So, it's sort of we are a bit more spread out a bit I feel, because I always feel because I’m not attached to one team in particular, we’re sort of quite segregated. You've got your elderly service, you've got your hospital, short term services, community teams and you've got your learning disability teams and they are, they feel a little bit more separate because they're not sat in the same office.

Sarah: I think the teams definitely go, the individual teams have got closer and what we need to work on exactly is how we reach out still, because again, when we're going in the office, it might be there's two or three from each team. So, whenever I go in, I do make the effort, if it's a person who hasn't met my colleagues in other teams, introduce them so they know who they are. I think what we have done, just jumping back a little bit, is sometimes when I've noticed, has been that learning discussion I've had with a member of staff recognized probably something that the team don't know as a whole. We look at that to be our next peer supervision or what it's, well, let's have an open conversation about why this was so hard and let other people learn so that actually there is that learning still. And I think, yeah, we still need to work on how we become closer as a, as a wider organization for adult social care.

Phil: And I think is sometimes as a team. I think we, because you have to make an effort sometimes to make social time or to see one another and it probably happens sometimes a bit more than it might have happened, actually working in an office where you see people more frequently, but then there's less impetus to actually make that time out and I remember, you know, being in the office, it's a noisy, high pressured environment. Actually, how often were those conversations actually happening in reality because of the demands of what we're doing? Whereas, actually now, I've been out on a visit, I'm going to pop in to see such a body because I know they're at home today working because I need just to have a coffee and a chat and I think all that happens kind of informally all the time and that support is there for people.

Sarah: But just going back to the work in the office because I've never really worked in an office before coming here and well, in my previous job I did come into the office. But for me, the noise in the office and the chit chat, I couldn't bear it at all. I couldn't understand why people in the office would be talking about the colour they were going to paint the bathroom when we were at work, and it made me feel really anxious and uptight because I didn't. And I think when I'm at work, I'm at work and I should be working. But I've understood from working at Cheshire East in these meetings that actually people do need to connect and communicate but maybe it should be or could be a more constructive or in better time or place than a community office?

Sarah: I think majority of my team feel they can work better because they're not in that loud noisy environment, but it's just trying to make sure those that benefit from more company, the more social colleagues within our team still have some support. But I agree so loud in offices, you can't imagine how you used to do it that way.

Sue: I actually came up with an idea that Cheshire East should provide what we call, walking lunches. So if you're at working from homes, you would know people within where I live who also work for the council in which other departments and you meet up at a certain place at lunchtime and you all go for a half an hour, three quarterly-hour walk and a chat and get to meet each other, I think be a great thing for Cheshire East to promote for people's health and wellbeing and connectivity.

Rebecca: I was just going to say about that - I think that's an excellent idea about the working lunches – going back to the office. I look back now and yeah, I hardly ever got anything done some days, because as you said, you'd be sort of constantly people be coming over to ask and interrupting me when you were writing a report or writing something. So, I think productivity in that sense, you do get more done, but it's a balancing it, so, you do have the social contact and you are able to talk about those, what your bathroom colour is, or whatever. You know, obviously you don't spend all day doing that, but you just need that little bit of humanistic approach.

Sarah: And yeah, no, I agree. I think we can set boundaries better with this new way of working when we've really got urgent things to do, whether it be a court thing or some statement that we must get in, we can protect that time, so we don't get disturbed. That wasn't that easy in the office because people wouldn't be aware from sitting at a computer that you're doing something important. But we have an informal catch up once a week, just a half hour. If people just want to make up for those times when they would have been couple of minutes making a brew to have a quick chat. And it's informal, but there's other things happen and things like the walks might be a really good idea when it's on our lunches. When it's not raining when yeah, when the weather improves.

Kath: And I think that's what I loved about talking to and talking to you here, is it really feels like this is a journey for you. So feels like you getting a lot right, but you recognize there’s still more to do and it just it just feels like part and parcel of the conversations you have, the thinking that you’re doing, constantly about how do we build on what works well, but how do we also push it further? So, I think just to finish off be great is and so thinking about other social work services out there in different parts of the country who are considering, you know, do we, do we go on this journey towards flexible working for our social workers? One piece of advice from each of you. So, Sarah do you want to start?

Sarah: I couldn't, I couldn't put into words how brilliant it is and how much it makes a difference, both for me as an individual. As people know, I have my mum and Hayley, previously mummy and Joshua days, but then when I'm in work, I work even harder than I ever could because I feel like this is a really good thing. So, I think staff in other areas just need to take the plunge, have some trust and they'll quickly see there are ways to monitor situations that you still know workers are working, but I think they'll find they get a lot more from their staff. Even though staff are working hard, they'll get even more because it's a two-way process.

Phil: Yeah, I think I would echo Sarah's point. I would just advise anyone just to give it a go because it's not rigid. It isn't. It's a very I mean, in the term really, it's flexible and it evolves and changes depending on the culture of a team, how people work together. And if something isn't working, you can change it. So, I, I think, you know, I would just suggest anyone, if they're thinking about it, to try it as a team, work it through together. To me, it isn't just the responsibility of the manager, it's a team responsibility and everybody has a stake in making it work.

Sue: I would say do it definitely. Absolutely. And yesterday, for example, I was walking with a lady who wants a career change and I said, well, I'd certainly recommend working with Cheshire East Council. It's about what you want out of life. And I for me, there's it's low stress and extremely productive, not just at work but at home. And my, you know, my health and fitness. I think it's great for the planet because I'm not commuting and ways, you know, I would say yes, yes, yes, do it.

Rebecca: Yes. It for me it’s work life balance, which would be the key caption. For me, it'd be work life balance because it means that people do have that sense of well-being and are able to balance their work and their life and their pleasure.

Kath: Thank you. It’s been so fascinating talking to you all today. I think for me, the really big messages that are coming through around trust, trust feel so important. Those adult-to-adult conversations, compromise, negotiation by everybody, you know, but the benefits just feel so come through so strongly in how you all talk, you are so passionate about it and that balance, that sense of balance, that's, you know, that's important. And I think the other thing, you know, you're clearly still on a journey and I think it's about people seeing it as a journey, not as a binary thing, but actually take some small steps and make a start. So, thank you for taking the time for listening today, and I really hope that you're able to take some of the learning from what you've heard and apply it in your own organization.

Kath: Cheshire East is showing us that flexible working for social workers is absolutely possible and workable and there's loads of benefits to be had. We hope you found this helpful, and it'll support you on your own journey towards flexible working in social work services. At Partners in Care and Health, we've developed a suite of resources to help you on your way: steps to take, tips and pitfalls, learning from others. So, check them out www.local.gov.uk/pch. Thanks for listening and good luck with your onward journey.

ENDS

Flexible working in social care

Types of flexible working

Why it makes a difference