The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we know it. Once the initial wave of shock had subsided, the world understood that it might have to live with this ‘new normal’ for longer than expected. 

The virus, with its multiple mutations and re-entries, has shown that it is here to stay, at least for the coming few months. As economies readjusted themselves and workplaces shuffled to accommodate this way of life, people realized there were better, and perhaps more convenient approaches towards work. They went back to their hometowns, shifted to the work-from-home mode, and meetings became virtual. In many professions, the output remained unaffected. 

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The flexibility this pandemic-induced arrangement has provided has meant that several companies are contemplating continuing it, even in the post-COVID world. 

A Sky News report has quoted research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and labour market analysts Emsi Burning Glass, which showed that 25% of jobs advertised in December last year mentioned hybrid or flexible working, which also includes job shares and working irregular hours.

This number is 19% higher than the preference before the pandemic. 

Yez Ibrahim, who joined the insurance company Zurich recently, said she works on a flexible, part-time basis, especially since having her second child. 

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She told Sky News: “It’s just an all-round better setup for me. And it works. I’m a better version of myself, I’m a better employee, a better mum.”

Zurich, in fact, has been offering flexibility in working hourse since 2019. The company’s UK division is urging the government to change the law, and make other big companies provide vacancies for part-time, job-share and flexible basis as well, wherever possible. 

The company’s HR director Steve Collinson said, “We’ve certainly seen very strong demand from employees and from candidates.

“If we think about the fact that there are over a million unfilled vacancies in the UK, if there’s this very strong demand from candidates for flexibility, for access to things like part time and job share opportunities, if employers don’t have flexibility, then we’re missing out on whole swathes of potential candidates,” he said, reported Sky News. 

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Mumsnet CEO and founder Justine Roberts stressed on the push that such a change would provide for women who wish to work in certain professions.

She said, “I think we need to acknowledge that flexible working, hybrid working is something that women in particular mothers have been desperate for, for years. What the pandemic has done is allowed us to test this, experiment with this, and the world hasn’t fallen in. The thing that mums want most from work is flexibility.