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Dynamic working (working from home)

Dynamic working - great for business and colleagues

03 October 2016

This week marks UK National Work Life Week. Dynamic working gives colleagues the opportunity to define how they work their lives. We believe that empowering our people to integrate their professional and personal lives in a way that works for them makes for a much healthier working environment.

Dynamic working at Barclays infographic

Flexible and dynamic working not only benefits colleagues, it also makes great business sense. Research tells us that by being a flexible employer, colleagues are more likely to be motivated, committed and have better employee relations.1 Department for Business Innovation and Skills In addition, more money is added back into the economy through more productive use of available working hours.2

Barclays aims to foster a culture where dynamic working is recognised, appreciated and valued. This could mean reducing hours; job sharing; working from home or just having a different pattern of starting and finishing the working day. It can also support our people to commit their time to their passions and hobbies outside of work.

Barclays recognises that colleagues play many different roles in their lives. Barclays is comprised of a multigenerational workforce and allowing people to decide when, where and how they work helps to fulfil and support these roles more easily. Through modern technology, colleagues are able to log on and work remotely, meaning they do not necessarily need to be in the office each day to complete their jobs. This is important for colleagues who work on the road, enabling them to spend more time with customers and clients.

Dynamic working is a critical lever for us to engage and help enhance the productivity of the five generations working at Barclays. By offering colleagues an opportunity to design their own work patterns, it enables a better integration between work and personal commitments and readies us to be a great workplace of the future, today.

Mark McLane

Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion

Following the introduction of a formal dynamic working campaign in 2014, reaction has been extremely positive. More than 3,000 managers have attended dynamic working training to understand the impact it has on our working culture, and in 2015, 70% of Barclays colleagues felt that their manager encouraged them to have a work life balance.

Our focus internally also extends externally to our high street branches, where we are adapting our products and services to ensure that Barclays reflects the needs of different families and people in the UK today. This is something that we are very proud of. We have been recognised externally by Mumsnet for being a Family Friendly company, by Working Mother as one of the 100 best companies' to work for in 2015 and as a Top 10 employer for working families.

1 Department for Business Innovation and Skills
2 Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr)

Dynamic working case studies

Ian Rand, Chief Executive Officer in Business Banking, works remotely once a week

Ian joined Barclays in 2008. Having never experienced a dynamic working environment before, it took him some time to adjust.

"I thought I was a good manager but when I joined Barclays I didn’t know what to do when my team wasn’t physically there. I had to get my head around the practicalities of managing a dynamic working team."

Once Ian understood how dynamic working could benefit his team and work practically, it helped build a greater level of trust and effort. He knew his team members were an email or phone call away, engaged and ready to move, they just weren’t in eyesight.

Ian hopes to give people the confidence to approach their managers, saying: “Your career is impacted by what you deliver, not by where you deliver it from.

Eri, Associate Vice President in Product Control and primary care giver

Eri Yamamoto has worked full-time at Barclays since 2005. After having her first child in 2012, Eri needed more flexible working hours so she could pick up her son from daycare. 

"All parents were required to pick up their children by 16:30 each day, which would have been impossible if I was working full-time. I didn’t even consider dynamic working as an option but my manager suggested it," she said.

Eri’s HR and managerial team were understanding and highly supportive – helping her adjust by giving her tasks that were sufficiently flexible to fit into her new hours.

Without dynamic working, it was probable Eri would have had to stop working altogether.

"Dynamic working has allowed me to be a parent. It’s given me the chance to spend quality time with my son as he grows up – time I would not have had without changing my working hours,” she added.

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