22/02/2025
New research from Phoenix Insights, Phoenix Group’s longevity think tank, finds the top flexible working priority is the number of hours people work, and those aged 30-34 are the first group to value fewer hours and less pay.
Flexible working is an arrangement which allows employees to balance their employment with their personal lives and commitments. There are different types of flexibility but most centre around the hours, location, and timings people work. Flexible working can be hugely beneficial to support more people access the labour market and remain in work for longer. This has significant financial and social value for individuals and wider benefits for the economy.
Phoenix Insights’ research* finds the number of hours people work is the most valued form of flexible working arrangement. Younger workers at the start of their careers want to increase their hours or move jobs to increase their opportunities for earnings and progression, but the early thirties mark a turning point. While pay is always important, from the ages of 30-34 if people do want to change their working patterns, it is to reduce rather than increase their hours, even if that means a reduction in monthly income. By the time people reach their 50s, they are more than twice as likely to want to work fewer rather than more hours.
Why younger workers want flexibility
For the over-50s, reducing hours is a popular way to transition to retirement and extend working life alongside other commitments, and for those in their 30s and 40s responsibilities such as childcare play an important factor in decision-making. Research from Phoenix Insights and Timewise** found care or home related responsibilities are the primary reason why people work part-time. However, since the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a growing preference among people in their 30s to reduce hours beyond just caring responsibilities, such as to pursue hobbies and wider interests. One younger worker in the focus group for the research said: “Covid has changed things. People want to pursue interests beyond work. Part-time shouldn’t just be for parents.”
Patrick Thomson, Head of Research Analysis and Policy at Phoenix Insights said:
“Flexible working has become a hot topic of discussion with public debate centred on whether people should work more days in the office instead of from home. However, flexibility is much more than the hybrid working debate. It is about how we can make work more sustainable for the future and accessible to a wider proportion of society who otherwise might be excluded or driven from the workplace. Getting this right is important not just for individuals but also critical for boosting productivity and tackling the issue of economic inactivity.
“Our research shows that most people think that they could do their job or one like it by the time they’re 60, but most think they couldn’t do it to the age of 70. With longer working lives becoming the norm, something needs to change.
“People are still facing financial hardship from the fall out of the cost-of-living crisis and there are currently millions of people in the UK under saving for their future retirement. Supporting people to remain in work and continue to earn and save while they balance other life commitments, caring responsibilities or ill health will go some way to addressing these challenges.
Flexible work and closing the pensions saving gap
Phoenix Insights modelling suggests as many as 17 million people are under saving for retirement***. This means many people who fall out of work early will face financial vulnerability later in life unless they can re-enter the workforce and continue to work and save. Flexible working is key to enabling more people into the labour market, whether that’s earlier in life when they have plenty of time to save, later on to top up their existing pot, or even after the traditional state pension age to help supplement their retirement income.
Analysis by Standard Life, which is part of Phoenix Group, found working just one day a week for a few years after reaching retirement age could add as much as £21,000 to a retirement fund – £18,000 from fund growth due to delaying access pension to savings from 66 to 70, and £3,000 due to the additional contributions of working one day a week.
Mike Ambery, Retirement Savings Director at Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, adds:
“When people fall out of work their future retirement income isn’t always front of mind. But time out of employment can have a double whammy effect of no pension contributions and losing the benefit of valuable contributions from the employer. Improving flexible working practices so more people can remain earning and saving whether early in their career or nearing retirement age is a key part of addressing how we can start to address retirement income adequacy.”
Original Article: HRNews
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