Wates Adopts Company Wide Flexible Working

Wates Group has announced that it is to adopt a company-wide flexible working policy, as it looks to embrace the Group’s high standards of customer service by improving staff wellbeing and productivity.

The company employs almost 4,000 people throughout the UK, is encouraging it’s workforce across the business to experiment with different working patterns, which it hopes will improve employees working life. All new roles are being advertised as flexible and teams are being encouraged to develop working patterns that take into account the individual preference of employees, enabling everyone to perform their best.

This decision makes Wates one of the first construction companies to offer and support flexible working over its entire business. This new approach makes the business more inclusive, helping it to attract and develop a more diverse workforce.

The approach is summarised in a set of Flexible Working Principles, which clarify that flexible working should be for everyone, regardless of where they work; and that it should be achieved in a way that maintains or improves service delivery for customers, as well as being sensitive to the needs and preferences of the wider team.

David Allen, Chief Executive at Wates Group, said: “As a family business, we are committed to doing everything we can to help colleagues achieve a better work-life balance. The pandemic challenged us to work in different ways and to adapt.  We learned a lot about how to work flexibly, and about how doing so can improve productivity, performance, health and happiness.

“We have listened to feedback from colleagues from across the Group and, as part of launching our Flexible Working Principles, are encouraging them to use the next few months to experiment with their working patterns: to find what works for them; to show us what they want their working life to be like in the future; and to use these new flexibilities to support our goal of becoming the most trusted, sustainable and progressive business in the sector.”

Jane van Zyl, CEO of national work-life balance charity Working Families, said: “Wates’ Flexible Working Principles, and the culture change they are ushering in, is an extremely positive and inspiring thing to see. We know that for too long flexible working has been seen as the preserve of office workers, but this shows that flex is possible in roles whether you’re sat at a desk or working on site.

“It’s why we were so pleased to partner with Wates on our recent #FlexTheUK campaign: we want to show that whether it’s flexing hours, working pattern or location, flexible, family-friendly working practices don’t just bring huge benefits for employees – they make sound business sense too.”

Wates’ Flexible Working Principles were introduced in response to feedback from staff, which highlighted that almost 90% of colleagues would prefer a mix of home working and office working in the future. A separate survey of just over 1,000 parents, launched as part of Working Families’ #FlexTheUK campaign, which is supported by Wates Group, showed that parents overwhelmingly want employers to create more flexible jobs (84%), and would consider jobs advertised as flexible more attractive when looking for work in the future (69%).

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