28
Women in the UK Intelligence Community
Flexible working arrangements in the Agencies (2013/14)
SIS
24% of female staff work flexible hours compared with
6% of male staff.
MI5
28.6% of female staff work part-time or
compressed hours.
GCHQ
35% of female staff work part-time compared with
4% of male staff.
Cabinet
Office
11.4% of female staff work part-time compared with
1% of male staff.
Civil
Service
38% of female civil servants work part-time compared
with 8% of male civil servants.
38. Is it offered? The Agencies all have policies that support flexible
SIS
working arrangements. Many other major employers outside the Civil
Service have embraced flexible working as a way of retaining talent. At
the UK–Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, an ‘if not,
why not?’ approach has been taken to requests for flexible working
where the assumption is that it is a good thing and is possible. The
Royal Bank of Scotland has a ‘work shaped around you’ approach,
called ‘RBS choice’, to enable flexible working.13
39. Do staff feel they can ask for flexible working hours? In
some areas there remains a perception issue and individuals are
reluctant to ask for flexible working in case in some way the individual
might be considered to be letting the team and colleagues down,
and it might reflect badly on them. There was some concern that
people working part-time or flexible hours were not treated on a par
with full-time colleagues, especially with regards to appraisals. It is
revealing that, in an online survey by HayGroup, over 45% of 791
members of the SCS believed that you could not use flexible working
arrangements without in some way harming your career.14 The 2013
‘Women in Leadership’ report, which examines career progression
of women in the CIA, highlights the possible stigma associated with
anybody seeking flexible working arrangements. It also highlights the
views from staff within the CIA that part-time work was seen by the
Agency as “not meaningful and ancillary to the mission”. The report
recommends that the CIA must increase workplace flexibility.15
13 ‘Women in Whitehall’, produced for the Cabinet Office by the HayGroup, May 2014.
Available at
www.gov.uk/government/publications/women-in-whitehall-culture-leadership-talent
14 ibid.
15 ‘Women in Leadership’, CIA Director’s Advisory Group.