Flexible Working for Everyone
In a lot of ways, ‘work’ used to be a building or a place to be from 9 to 5—but no longer. For us, our work is something we love to do, and from now on we’re going to do it wherever and whenever suits our people best.
With no shortage of discussion around ‘flexible working’ versus ‘going back to normal’ versus (well, at least 100 other options), we figured it was high time we laid our cards on the table with our flexible working policy, not because we’ve got it all figured out, but because we believe in the power of flexible working. Sure, we could just keep talking about it, but we’d rather get to the doing part. Let’s go!
If you ask us, the old ways of working were too restrictive and rigid. We’ve often said that we want our people to feel free to bring their unique, weird selves to work every day (more on that here) so shouldn’t they also have the freedom to work where and when is best for them? We sure think so.
Besides, flexible working means more inclusivity, more diversity, and better equity for everyone. These are what great culture and great work are built on. But don’t take our word for it.
So, what’s the big idea?
We’re glad you asked. Depending on who you talk to, flexible working can mean all sorts of things. We broke it down into the following framework which has something for everyone. We even paired these with their own flexi-themed 3D renders to give each one its own visual identity.
Flexing Our Manifesto
If you know us, bringing our values and big ideas to life through murals, films, and animations, is nothing new. For this one, we decided to start with a bit of copywriting, using a manifesto as a springboard to get the team excited about this new initiative, the purpose behind it, and the three cultural principles that are foundational for making this work day-to-day: freedom, trust, and respect.
For me, it’s been so important that we developed a policy that had a little something for everyone. Flexibility really does mean different things for everyone and our approach means our team can lean into what works for them. We are so excited to see this come to life and continue to evolve.
Bringing it all to life
With our flexible working policy 100% figured out (okay 93% if we’re honest) we teamed up with the incredible illustrator and graphic designer, Alex Black, to help bring our manifesto to life through a series of flexi-stickers, including a giant friendly spring with a flag (because flexible), dancing jelly (flexible yet structured), Flexi-tickets, Flexi-flip-flops (say that 7x fast), Flexi-sunglasses, Flexi-juice (right, you get it) and so many more!
It goes without saying that we’re over the moon with the results, but we’ll say it anyway – we’re over the moon. Alex’s bold and cheerful illustrations were just the ticket for helping us break the mould and spring us on to the next big thing.
The opportunity to spend a week or so creating characters, mascots and illustrations was right up my street. Initially, the project was a bit of a brainstorm so I followed my usual process of doodles to digital. Although a brief was in place there were no real creative limitations, which is always very exciting.
A continual challenge was to create illustrations that interpreted our ideas but in a way which wasn’t too literal, this required me to think way outside the box. Developments and discussions between myself and the MadeBrave team were always fun and productive.
*Actually* bringing it all to life
You’d think that after creating 3D renders, a manifesto, and a series of illustrations and animations (whew!) we would have enough to get everyone jumping up and down and all around about our new flexible working policy. But, believe it or not, we had yet another great idea (around here, we sometimes get too many fun ideas all at once—even our arms and legs can grow arms and legs!)
Speaking of legs, there seemed to be some general confusion around what is and isn’t proper flexible working attire (you know who you are). We had to get to the bottom of this because something just wasn’t sitting right and that’s when someone sprung the idea—what if we gave everyone pyjamas?
Working with our pal Richard Davies, Founder of Abandon Ship (‘member him?), we created a pair of stylish, yet comfy-cosy PJs complete with Flexi-waist™ technology to accommodate our *ehem* ever-changing working-from-home backsides. Each pair will make sure every MadeBraver is equipped with work attire that’s stylish enough for the boardroom, yet soft enough for the home office, bedroom, couch, or bed.
