How to create a flexible working culture with Axicom’s Rosie Bannister and Kate Stevens

On this week's podcast I'm chatting to Rosie Bannister, managing director UK at Axicom and Kate Stevens, president of Europe at AxiCom.Currently the PR world, alongside many other sectors, is trying to figure out the right balance between working from home and office working in a post pandemic world.On the show this week I talk to Rosie Bannister and Kate Stevens about how Axicom has created a culture in which flexible working can thrive.Thanks so much, as ever, to the podcast sponsors, the PRCA.Here’s a summary of what we discussed:0.55 mins Is there such a thing as a flexible working culture? What's different about a flexible working culture to a non-flexible working culture?1.30 mins Why flexible working is not about where you work, it’s about how you work.2 mins Why changing people’s habits is the biggest barrier to flexible working.4 mins Isn’t the reality that employees have actually worked longer hours working from home during lockdown?5.30 mins Companies cannot organise flexible working partners, it’s down to culture and changing the culture of presenteeism.6 mins Why company leaders mustn’t be seen to “be very busy, doing busy things, all the time.”8 mins Why Axicom removed core hours from its employment contracts.10 mins What does Axicom define as intelligent working?12 mins How firms can train their management to encourage flexible working. 13 mins Kate talks us through Axicom’s employee survey data before the intelligent working scheme was launched and after.17 mins Why, with some irony, employees said they needed rules to help them work flexibly.20 mins What guidance is Axicom giving to its employees in terms of how many days they come into the office a week?22 mins Has flexible working impacted Axicom’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) 24 mins Why “timesheets are the biggest challenge to a flexible working policy for an agency.”27 mins How Axicom’s employee data also shows that employees value collaborative time in the office.29 mins Is there a danger that the length of people’s commute will be the dominant driver of how often they come into the office?