The world of work has, undeniably, changed over the past thirty years.

Technological innovations, the greater availability of highly skilled people and increasingly affluent and demanding consumers in particular are driving changes to markets and to the way in which organisations work. Regulations have changed and expectations about being able to combine paid work with other things have grown. Yet not everything has changed as much as might at first be expected. Many organisations still operate on a model of work developed when we did not have technological advances or new consumer markets. Many people are still working at similar times, in similar places and in similar ways, and whilst availability of flexible working is much better, it is still not sufficient to enable all groups within the labour market to participate fully and achieve their potential. The five driver framework changing consumer markets; changing labour markets; the developing regulatory environment; changing expectations; and new organisational models are a useful way of analysing where change is and is not happening, and can be used by organisations seeking to understand the implications of external change for internal models of work. This framework does need, however, to be put in the context of wider public policy as without consideration of sustainability issues, as well as changes to transport and childcare, it is difficult for change within organisations to make a real difference to organisational productivity and to individuals prospects. Society and hence both labour and product/service markets have changed a great deal, and there are many examples of employers responding creatively and effectively to this. There are clearly business benefits of changing how, when and where people work to adapt to economic and social trends. Flexibility how, when and where people work is one of the elements of the overall model of work that has the most potential for opening up choices for individuals, improving employee engagement and, if other conditions are met, improving productivity. However, it is clear that many recognise that despite the case for change and examples of particular types of flexibility working in practice, they may define themselves as 'yet to adapt'. And there are few indeed who would describe themselves as having really transformed their model of work. The remainder of this report focuses on how flexible working can be used to develop a more sophisticated conversation about transforming the model of work. For employers keen to understand whether their model of work is fit for purpose, the five drivers framework provides a useful tool for considering where change has happened and where the existing model of work may no longer be appropriate for todays customers, employees and organisation. Thinking about supply and demand pressures on the organisation is another way of identifying where there are pressures for change. It is clear, however, that a model of work is not just about flexibility or one ideal way to work. Instead it is a series of inter-connected issues that each affect and each other and make up the individual culture and behaviours of different teams and organisations. When employers are considering making changes to one issue, such as flexibility, they also need to consider what impact this will have upon other aspects of the model of work. There is also a need to define flexibility more clearly as being about autonomy and control to adapt how, when and where people work in order to increase productivity and meet employee and customer needs.

Reviews of successful changes to organisations models of work highlight that there are three strategic conditions of success and five operational conditions of success. Organisations that make use of these principles are more likely to make successful changes to their model of work that are appropriate to their particular organisation. This can contribute to achieving an overall vision that balances the needs of employees, customers and the organisation in the way that the model of work was redesigned. This vision may be one way of encouraging people to rethink work organisation in a more balanced way.