Not your usual 9 to 5
Flexible working at RELX
Across RELX we have 33,000 people based in 40 countries. While many people work 9 to 5 in an office, some have very different work day routines.
Flexible working allows our employees to be productive and it’s part of RELX’s Inclusion & Diversity practices. Our flexible working is within the parameters of local employment arrangements and is also reviewed on a case by case basis.
Marcia Balisciano, Director of Corporate Responsibility at RELX, says: “Flexible working can make all the difference to retaining great people across the business. For those that need it due to personal circumstance or preference, it doesn’t mean working less, but working smarter. It also allows our people to work at times when they can be most productive.”
As well as local programmes across the company, Elsevier introduced FlexWorx, a global flexible working initiative to its people in 2018. Simon Helliwell, Executive Vice President of HR at Elsevier, says: “Elsevier endeavours to be a great place to work where all employees feel valued and work-life balance is encouraged and supported. The launch of Flexworx in 2018 has enabled many more individuals and teams to reconsider how they work, and to better balance home and work priorities more effectively."
Meet some of our people who are benefiting from flexible working at RELX:
Margot Berkvens
Elsevier
Amsterdam
Tell us about yourself
I have worked at Elsevier for 32 years. I started my current role as a Legal Executive Assistant in August 2017, and before that, I was an Executive Assistant.
How do you work flexibly?
I job share with my colleague Jola Stuijt. Jola was working part-time as an EA at Elsevier, when her manager’s job changed and needed full-time support. Jola didn’t want to work full-time and she started looking for a solution. I was working part time as an EA too, and we had the idea to job-share.
How does job-sharing work in practice?
Jola works on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and I work on Thursdays and Fridays. Every two weeks I work on Wednesdays too, which is very useful. It gives us the chance to talk to each other, catch-up and discuss things like workload.
Our office has hot desks so we don’t share a desk, and we have our own laptops. We share an email address and inbox, and have access to our own work emails too. It’s working well. Some people don’t know we are two people!
I like working part-time. I can do more things at home, and I can combine work with taking care of my family and having time for the kids. I also have more time for social appointments.
When you work part time, you also have to be efficient. I need to hit deadlines - if I’m not in the next day, I need to get things finished that day.
Jola Stuijt and Margot Berkvens
Jola Stuijt and Margot Berkvens
Peter Drury
LEXISNEXIS LEGAL & PROFESSIONAL
London & Bangalore
PETER DRURY, LEXISNEXIS LEGAL & PROFESSIONAL, LONDON AND BANGALORE
Tell us about yourself
I live 120 miles north of Edinburgh, in Scotland. I work for LexisNexis Legal & Professional part-time, from home in Scotland, and from our offices in India and London.
What is your role?
I joined LexisNexis Legal & Professional in July 2014. Before that, I was a customer! I worked with EY in Bangalore, India, leading a team of 100 people, and we used LexisNexis products. When I learned that LexisNexis was considering setting up an office in Bangalore, I was keen to be part of building a business from scratch in a country I had come to know and love. It has been an exciting task, with some challenges along the way, but we now have a team of 24 people in Bangalore. In total, 18 of our 24 employees are female, including the four most senior people. Our attrition since 2014 has been nil, apart from two leavers after marriage, which is good compared to local statistics.
How do you work flexibly?
I work part-time and in different locations. Last year I spent six months working in India and one month working in the UK. My work in the UK is split into a couple of hours most days. When I’m in India, my work is full-on. It’s all day, every day. I’ve had to build a network of people, including employees, suppliers etc. I enjoy it and I love meeting people.
When I’m in the UK, I travel to London about ten times a year to the office to see colleagues and have full days of meetings. The rest of the time I work from home in Scotland for a couple of hours most days of the week. I always wake up early and this is when India is up and about, so this suits me well.
I enjoy travelling. I’ve travelled widely and my role lets me do so. The flexibility of my role is enormously attractive.
Richie Moneza
REPH
Philippines
Tell us about yourself
I joined REPH on 1 October 2012 as a Middleware Engineer. I am now an Operations Supervisor for REPH Technology Operations and I lead a team of 26 full time employees. My team provides IT support for RETS (RELX Technology Services).
How do you work flexibly?
Most of my teams moved to a compressed work week last year, which means we work longer hours on fewer days. Some people work 12-hour shifts, alternating between three and four days per week. I recently changed to a 10-hour day, four days a week. I work Mondays to Thursdays and I start my day anytime between midday and 2pm, depending on meeting schedules.
We adopted the compressed work week to maintain IT support for our businesses at weekends. Most of the teams here work on weekdays, but weekend support is normal for IT Infrastructure teams.
How has the change been received?
Initially, there was some resistance to the move to a compressed work week, as it was a big leap from regular eight-hour shifts. Quickly though, feedback became positive. Our new work pattern means fewer days travelling to and from work - traffic jams are getting worse here in Manila so the reduced total travel time is welcome. There are cost savings from making fewer journeys too.
But the most significant aspect has been the impact on work-life-balance. Half of my team is married, with children, so this means more days spent at home with families. For the rest of the team, the reduced number of days at work gives them more time for hobbies, travel, etc., without having to use their holiday.
MARISA TATUM
LEXISNEXIS RISK SOLUTIONS
Alpharetta
Tell us about yourself
I started at LexisNexis Risk Solutions six years ago. I’m a Senior Communications Specialist and my role involves many different aspects including producing videos, writing internal communications and content management.
How do you work flexibly?
At LexisNexis Risk Solutions in the US, we have the opportunity to work “summer hours”. It’s a flexible way of working during the summer, where if you work some extra hours on Monday to Thursday, you can leave early on Fridays. So, for example, if you arrive an hour early on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, you can leave by noon on Friday (or whatever you work out with your manager).
It helps people be flexible in their personal life - you can use the time to see friends and spend time with family. Employees must work with their managers to ensure there is no loss in coverage, but it’s a great way to have flexibility in our work environments.
Do summer hours help you?
In Atlanta, where I live, the traffic is terrible. Summer hours mean I don’t have to deal with traffic jams. The flexibility is one of the reasons I love working here. No other company I’ve worked for offers anything similar.
Comments from other employees about summer hours
"Due to the flexibility of summer hours, my fiancé (who also works for LexisNexis in another department) and I use our summer flex day to plan our upcoming wedding. We’re able to contact/visit venues, vendors and make all the arrangements needed. The company’s (and our managers’) flexibility reduces our stress in planning and executing a wedding in four months.”
“Flex hours allow me to work a half a day and sometimes an entire day from home, allowing my daughter to be at home. Normally she goes to work with my wife, as she’s not old enough to stay at home by herself. They are great for our family.”
Alison Stanworth
Risk & Business Analytics
Sutton, UK
Tell us about yourself
I am Vice President of Accounting & Compliance at Risk & Business Analytics, based in Sutton in the UK. I joined the company in 1994, so I’m getting close to my 25-year anniversary!
How do you work flexibly?
When I had my first daughter in 2007, I came back to work full time, but when I had my second daughter, I was able to come back to work three days a week.
A year later, I asked if I could change my hours to work from 9am to 2pm, five days a week. This worked well with my children, as it gave them a more regular pattern, and from a work point of view, it was good because I was in the office every day. People knew that I needed to leave at 2pm, but if urgent issues arose or important meetings were scheduled outside my regular hours, I would find alternative ways to cover childcare. Through all this time, I had teams of different sizes, and my direct reports always knew they could call me after 2pm if they needed to.
My girls are now 11 and 8, and I’ve just started a new role here and am working full time again. We are lucky because my husband can usually do the school runs. On days that he can’t, I block out my diary to pick the girls up and dial in again from home later, which actually works well as I now have a larger team in the US so it fits with their timezones. This was a conversation I had upfront with my manager before accepting the role. The new role was an exciting opportunity but it was important to me that me going back full time would not mean that my girls missed out as a result.
How has flexibility helped your career?
The flexibility and support I’ve had over the past few years has meant the world to me. It’s enabled me to enjoy work and to continue to thrive in my career but I haven’t felt that it has compromised my family life. The flexible hours and support has been a key driver for keeping me at RELX since having children.
I am a passionate believer that when you can be flexible with your team and allow them to balance work and home priorities, the effort and commitment they give back to you at work significantly outweighs the inconvenience of a bit of diary management!
Eric Cunha
Reed Exhibitions
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Tell us about yourself
I joined Reed Exhibitions two and a half years ago as a Business Intelligence Consultant based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I work in a data team of around ten analysts, and we work on business intelligence using data.
I was looking at ways to develop myself as a data scientist and to learn new approaches like data mining, modelling and statistics. I started to look for post-graduate courses and then thought it would be interesting to study outside Brazil, at an institution that is more specialised and expert in these areas.
How do you work flexibly?
I found an institute in Portugal which is one of the best in Europe. I applied for a master’s degree, had an interview and was accepted. I spoke to my parents and decided to come to Lisbon to take the two-year course.
I liked my job at Reed Exhibitions very much, especially my colleagues, manager and the culture of the company. I was prepared to leave my role, but I spoke to my manager about the idea of doing both my job and the master’s. She was keen and spoke to her bosses, and we decided to try it out.
I moved to Lisbon in August 2017 and work during the day for Reed Exhibitions. In the evening, I take my master’s classes and work on my degree. It’s challenging to enjoy my course and not let that focus interfere with my job at Reed Exhibitions, but it’s working well.
I don’t have classes every day, and I’m travelling around Europe as much as I can while I’m here. When I left Brazil it was my first time abroad.
How has flexibility helped you?
Reed Exhibitions has been great. I’m thankful for how my boss helped me - not all companies would do that. When I talk to my friends they can’t believe it, I am very lucky. I want to do the best job I can do and I am grateful Reed Exhibitions let me do it.
Laura McMurray
RELX
London, UK
Tell us about yourself
I’m Deputy Group Treasurer at RELX, based in London and have worked within the group for 29 years. I’ve had a variety of Treasury roles during this time and currently support the UK businesses with their treasury and banking needs. I joined the London team back in 1989 (when I was very young!) and worked on the merger of Reed and Elsevier, among other things. Five years later I accepted a secondment to Elsevier Finance in Switzerland. I loved living and working there but, after six years and following the birth of my second son, we decided it was time to return to the UK.
How do you work flexibly?
I’ve been working part time for the past 18 years, since moving back to London, as I wanted to spend more time with my children. RELX agreed initially that I could work two and a half days a week in the office. As working online remotely became easier and my children started school, I began working two days in the office and half a day at home. I was one of the first people to work part time in my office and it was quite unusual at the time.
Five years ago I had some health issues and, since then, I have been working one day a week in the office and three afternoons at home. This allows me to fit in an exercise class or walk most mornings and keep on top of emails and work on most days.
How has flexible working helped you?
Working part time has been fantastic. It has meant I can be involved with my kids and have an interesting job at the same time. My husband travelled a lot when the boys were young and I would have had to leave work completely if the company had not agreed this. It has also allowed me to carry on working despite my health issues. I’ve always been flexible to make it work, changing my days as needed for meetings and working extra hours when it’s busy. A lot of the people I deal with don’t even realise I work part-time. My main challenge has been keeping a boundary between work and home and switching off. But I’m getting better at that now.
Across RELX there are many other ways people are working flexibly, which we haven’t captured here. Our policies on flexible working are always evolving, and in some places we still have work to do. However, by actively discussing flexible working, we believe that providing flexibility will allow us to retain great talent and let our people be more productive.
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