When planning our working year back at the start of 2020 we had no idea we would spend months in the middle of a global pandemic. The ILM has long argued the value of flexible working and it would seem the rest of the country has now been forced to catch up. Many of us have been working from home, which may have been a completely new concept before March of this year, but there are also many of us who have seen the benefits of this and how it can have positives in all areas of our lives. Provided we have the correct tools and systems many of us have discovered that working from home can maintain or increase productivity and may even benefit our mental and physical health. Remote-working however, is only one aspect of flexible working and it is important we do not substitute one for the other. Virtual contact will never be a replacement for meeting face to face and video calls can be as or even more exhausting as commuting and holding meetings in person. When leaders are considering a return to the office it is certainly valid to say remote working has been a success in many areas, however, perhaps flexible working is more, well flexible! Giving colleagues the chance to return to the office at times when needed but offering the room to work from home and in turn perhaps providing a better work-life balan
ce.
