Flexa

Flexible Jobs Market Booms Despite Hiring Slowdown

25th May 2023

Our new findings on workplace environments and flexible working reveal an exciting surge in the flexible jobs market. More workers are actively seeking flexible job opportunities, and an increasing number of companies are embracing flexible working environments. While the number of flexible job openings being advertised is also on the rise. These statistics come at a time when the overall job market is experiencing a downward trend.

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), job vacancies have declined for five consecutive months as economic pressures have discouraged employers from hiring. However, our data highlights the resilience and growth of companies that prioritise flexibility, irrespective of their size or industry.

In the past quarter alone, we've observed a remarkable 20% increase in the number of flexible roles being advertised on our platform. Prominent companies showcasing their flexible benefits on Flexa range from renowned corporations and household names to disruptive market players like Mars, Virgin Media O2, Blood Cancer UK, Depop and Huel

Chris Woods, Senior Recruitment Marketing Manager at Mars, comments:

“Job hunters don’t always think of huge corporates when they think of flexible working. That’s why we became Flexified at the end of 2022 to ensure that the best possible talent does think of us. Progressive benefits like pregnancy loss leave, enhanced parental leave and compressed hours set us apart from other employers for our own team, and helped us earn the title of third most flexible large company in this year’s Flexa100. But unless we shout about it - and amplify our voice via flexible working champions like Flexa - there’s no way for others to know this.”

The demand for flexible work has never been stronger. Our user base has more than tripled in size in just the past year, with one million workers across 100 different countries now utilising our platform to discover flexible companies and roles.

Workers rely on our platform to find companies and positions that align with not just what they do but also how they work. Our powerful search filters enable users to explore companies that offer their preferred working location, hours, and benefits. Whether it's flexible hours, fully-remote roles, dog-friendly offices, four-day weeks, or other options, we cater to a wide range of preferences - one size will never fit all. As our user base continues to grow, generating millions of data points on working preferences, Flexa has become a leading source of insights into the trends and evolving landscape of flexible work.

Molly Johnson-Jones, CEO and co-founder of Flexa, comments:

“It’s not a coincidence that companies who offer flexible work are the same companies who are thriving and hiring right now. These companies know that flexible work is key to talent attraction. It’s also the reason that they’re able to hire in the first place - at a time when economic uncertainty has put a pause on recruitment elsewhere - as genuinely flexible work is key to engaging and enabling teams to thrive. 

“Flexible work is no longer a “future of work” conversation. It’s a conversation that’s happening now. It’s a priority for the one million people around the world who are searching for flexible companies like carwow, VaynerMedia and Multiverse through the Flexa platform. And it should be a priority for all companies who want to put themselves in a position to be able to hire top talent.

“That’s not to say that flexible working preferences - and, in turn, the working environments companies offer - won’t continue to evolve. The millions upon millions of data points we collect and analyse thanks to our ever-growing user base show how the places, hours and ways in which people want to work are always shifting. It’s our job to showcase companies’ individual flexible working set ups so that, whatever the preferences of individual candidates may be at the time, everyone can find employers whose priorities and needs align with their own.”