Nearly 80% of business owners say increasing flexible working opportunities is essential in the war for talent, according to the latest quarterly Smith & Williamson Enterprise Index report on business sentiment.
“Businesses increasingly believe they need to implement flexible working to be able to attract and retain the best talent,” said Jamie Lane, assurance and business services associate director at the South Coast office of Smith & Williamson, the accountancy and investment management group, in Southampton.
Feedback on the Flexibility Factor – the so-called F-Factor – came in the latest quarterly Enterprise Index, which questions business owners about their growth plans.
The Enterprise Index was slightly down from the previous quarter, reflecting uncertainty in the face of sustained political and economic threats; 74% of respondents expect the UK economy to improve over the next 12 months, compared to 90% a year ago.
Regarding the F-Factor, recent research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research and software company Citrix suggested that flexible working could boost the UK economy by £90 billion.
Jacqueline de Rojas of Citrix, recently called for a “mentality shift” amongst UK businesses.
She said: “It is time to move on from judging workers on how long they spend at their desks, to evaluating them on the work they actually deliver. Those that choose not to enable workplace mobility will lose out in the war for talent.”
Jamie added: “The Flexibility Factor is more important than ever now. Nearly eight out of 10 agree that flexible working arrangements are essential in the war for talent, with an increasing number of businesses adopting new practices.”
Starting from a benchmark 100 in January 2013, the Enterprise Index now stands at 104.4, marginally down from 106.8 in the last quarter of 2014, and down from a high of 108.7 at the beginning of 2014.
Other Enterprise Index responses showed that 65% of business owners believe their long-term interests will be better served by eliminating the deficit, rather than increasing public sector borrowing. While 74% of respondents believe that investment in cyber security needs to be strengthened following recent high-profile attacks.
The latest findings came just before official figures showed that the UK economy grew by just 0.3% in the first quarter of this year, half of the growth in the last three months of last year and the lowest since the final quarter of 2012.
