Community Integrated Care is extending its four-day working week policy and implementing a range of flexible working options for frontline staff.
The UK social care charity initially introduced the shorter working week for more than 300 employees in 2021, offering them either Mondays or Fridays off. After the success of the pilot, it has decided to roll out the scheme to further operational positions.
According to the organisation, which employs more than 5,500 people across England and Scotland, the move aims to “offer greater choice for current employees, create a more attractive offer for new recruits and deliver greater support to its frontline workforce which operates over a 24-hour period”.
The measures are being implemented following feedback from staff surveys, which showed more than four in five (82%) of workers were in favour of a four-day week.
Teresa Exelby, chief people officer at Community Integrated Care, said: “Our move to a four-day working week has been really positively received since its initial implementation in 2021, and we’re currently taking steps to facilitate the scheme for our frontline leaders. To do this, we’re looking at how we can improve our internal processes, such as our on-call system, so that our colleagues can really make the most of the flexibility it will bring.
“We’ve also introduced a range of flexible working options for our frontline operational teams, such as contracts that range from four to 48 hours, bank work and investments in digital systems that can be utilised to give colleagues further choice and control, including our rota management platform. These actions have been built with our colleague’s voices at the heart of them, giving them the flexibility and freedom to build their own ways of working.”
Current employee benefits offered by the organisation include access to a free employee assistance programme, tailored wellbeing support and money-saving discounts.
Last month (April), the charity announced it was investing £4 million in staff pay, boosting wages for 5,000 frontline support staff to £10.92 in line with the rate set by the living Wage Foundation. This followed a £8 million investment made in November 2021.
