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Implementing Flex Plus

A Practical Guide for Employers

This page sets out practical steps for applying the Flex Plus model in your organisation—from job design to recruitment and management practice.

New to Flex Plus? Start with the overview

Flex Plus is not a single policy or initiative. It is an approach to designing work that enables disabled people—and others with changing health or caring needs—to work sustainably.

Many organisations already offer elements of flexible working. But too often these are:

  • treated as discretionary, often as a reward or perk
  • applied inconsistently
  • or not available at the point of recruitment

This creates a gap between intention and impact, a gap that can increase inequalities rather than reducing them.

The guidance below draws on my research with King’s College London with employers, as well as wider evidence on what supports disabled people to enter, remain and thrive in work.

Rethink assumptions about productivity and performance

Traditional models of work often assume a fixed 40 hour week, constant output and visible presence.

These assumptions can disadvantage people whose capacity varies.

Flex Plus requires a shift towards:

  • outcomes over hours
  • trust over presenteeism
  • and sustainable performance over short-term intensity

What to do:

  • Focus on outputs and outcomes rather than time spent working
  • Allow for variation in working patterns where roles permit
  • Recognise that sustainable work patterns often lead to better retention and performance over time

Avoid “inflexible flexibility”

Some organisations offer flexible working through standardised options or fixed menus. While well-intentioned, these can exclude people whose needs do not fit predefined models of flexibility. Disabled people are too often an afterthought in flexible work planning.

Flex Plus is about tailored, responsive flexibility.

What to do:

  • Allow for individualised arrangements rather than limiting options to set patterns
  • Ensure processes for requesting flexible working are not overly rigid or automated
  • Recognise the link between flexible working and reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act

Flexibility needs to be designed around people—not around HR software systems.

Make flexibility visible in recruitment

Many disabled people will not apply for roles unless flexible working options are clearly stated in recruitment materials.

At the same time, risks and uncertainties around disability disclosure create additional barriers to negotiating flexibility for job candidates.

What to do:

  • Include flexible working options in every job advert wherever possible
  • Signal openness to discussing flexibility at interview stage
  • Avoid defaulting to full-time unless it is genuinely required
  • Create a psychologically safe environment for candidates to share their needs if they choose to

This is essential to addressing the current two-tier system, where flexibility is available to existing staff but not to new recruits.

Equip and support line managers

Line managers are central to whether Flex Plus works in practice.

Even where policies are strong, outcomes often depend on confidence, capability, organisational support and knowledge.

What to do:

  • Provide training on managing flexible and remote teams
  • Build understanding of long-term health conditions and disability, especially on the lived experience of fluctuating and energy limiting conditions
  • Develop skills in job design, job carving and task allocation
  • Support managers to build trust-based working relationships

Without this, Flex Plus remains policy on paper rather than practice on the ground.                                                                                                                                                            

Align flexible working with your disability strategy

Flexible working is often treated separately from disability equality and inclusion. This can mean missed opportunities—and inconsistent practice.

What to do:

  • Treat flexible working as a core part of your approach to disability inclusion and workforce health
  • Ensure HR, DEI and occupational health functions are aligned
  • Make clear the distinction between:
    • flexible working as a general policy, including the Right to Request
    • and flexible working as a reasonable adjustment

This helps ensure disabled employees can access the flexibility they need through the right routes.

Start with job design, not requests

One of the biggest barriers to Flex Plus is that jobs are typically designed around full-time, fixed patterns, and only adapted later.

This makes it difficult to offer flexibility at the point of hire, or or in a consistent and equitable way.

What to do:

  • Identify which roles could accommodate reduced hours, remote working, or flexible schedules. This helps with retention when an employee develops a long-term health condition
  • Use job carving and task redistribution to create more adaptable roles when needed
  • Build flexibility into roles from the outset, rather than retrofitting it later

This helps move away from a system where flexibility depends on negotiation, and towards one where it is designed in.

Track what’s happening in practice

Many organisations do not have a clear picture of:

  • who is accessing flexible working
  • what types of flexibility are used
  • or how this relates to retention and progression

What to do:

  • Collect data on flexible working uptake and outcomes
  • Where possible, link this to disability data (with appropriate safeguards)
  • Use this insight to identify gaps and improve practice

Better data supports better decision-making—and helps build the case for change. The Government’s commitment to mandatory disability and ethnicity reporting for large employers recognises this.

Take a phased approach

Some elements of Flex Plus can be implemented quickly. Others require longer-term change.

Quick wins might include:

  • reviewing job adverts
  • training line managers
  • opening up conversations about flexibility in recruitment

Longer-term work may include:

  • redesigning roles
  • embedding flexibility into organisational systems
  • developing new recruitment models

Progress does not need to be all at once, but it does need to be intentional.

Moving forward

Flex Plus is about more than accommodating individuals. It is about designing work that reflects the realities of health, disability and working lives today.

Organisations that get this right can:

  • access a wider and often overlooked talent pool
  • improve retention and reduce sickness absence
  • build more inclusive, resilient and productive workplaces

Working with me

I support organisations to translate the Flex Plus model into practice.

This includes:

  • reviewing roles, policies and recruitment practices
  • designing line manager training on long term and energy limiting conditions at work
  • designing tailored approaches based on your organisation’s context

If you’d like to explore how Flex Plus could work in your organisation, get in touch.