Flexible working arrangements have had an unprecedented boom in recent months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic, technological, and social trends are all encouraging this development to continue. According to a report, part-time workers in the UK have increased from 6 million in 1992 to 8.59 million by 2019.
It is also likely that the lockdown will have a long-term impact on flexible working, especially when it comes to working from home.
Raises €1.7M
In a recent development, a London-based startup Juggle, which offers a SaaS platform for flexibility at work, has raised $2.1M (approx €1.7M) in a fresh round of funding to accelerate its mission to close the women’s leadership gap.
The startup raised funding from investors including Andrew Gault (backed Oculus by Facebook), Andreas Mihalovits (serial investor and early-backer of Tesla), Andrew J Scott (an early investor in Magic Pony), Charlie Kemper (backed Casper), Charlie Songhurst (backed Google), Curtis Chambers (early Uber employee), Rajiv Kapoor (Angel investor focused on female Founders), and Pip Wilson (a prominent female angel investor).
The round also saw investments from firms including San Francisco-based Social Capital, Oxford Capital, and 7percent Ventures.
About Juggle
Founded in 2017 by Romanie Thomas, Juggle focuses on flexible working, matching forward-thinking firms with mid and senior-level professionals. Also, according to the startup, currently, there are less than 10% of business leaders that are women. Juggle’s vision is to grow this percentage to 50% by 2027.
Via Juggle, professionals sign up for the service and are guided through a thorough onboarding process. Recruitment tools help them schedule and keep track of job applications, as well as coaching and support are available from a Juggle Talent Specialist and Flex Liaison Officer.
Besides, the startup also provides smart matching and paperwork. Businesses using Juggle to find the right candidate are vetted in advance to ensure that they embrace flexibility. The platform has already found talented candidates for companies including Hopster, Whitehat, Reallife Tech, and Hubble.
According to the company, in 2019, 8.59 million UK workers were employed part-time, and 4.61 million worked from home. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic this year, these numbers are estimated to be far larger and will have a long-term impact on the future of work.
Romanie Thomas, Founder and CEO of Juggle wants to see women in 50 per cent of business leadership roles by 2027 and believes flexibility is key.
“In my job as a headhunter I was frustrated by the lack of both female candidates and clients and couldn’t see how companies were going to make a step-change towards equality either. It seems obvious to me but there is now compelling data to support this theory, that flexibility in the workplace lies at the heart of the solution to this problem,” he says.
Flexibility is important to achieving gender equality
The company highlights the results of a 2017 report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which highlighted flexible working as a primary recommendation for improving gender equality in the workplace, and that advertising all UK jobs as flexible could help tackle the gender pay gap.
According to Thomas, flexibility is important to achieving gender equality “because it democratises the environment and ensures professionals thrive on merit, not because of outdated structural reasons. The professional environment was created predominantly with men from a certain socioeconomic background in mind. Men who had wives at home to manage their personal lives too; so if we want to collectively achieve gender equality we have to rethink the structure and rhythm that better reflects the needs of the modern workforce.”
Juggle claims that since its inception, 62% of all placements made by the startup have been female. Besides, within its own 11 person team, Juggle’s five staff work flexibly (part-time), and it is a remote-first company.
“Employees aren’t asking for anything revolutionary, just to be able to work in the way that’s most efficient and productive for them. Flexibility enables people to maximise their energy and skills, and that’s a huge benefit for employers once they realise it,” adds Thomas.
Juggle claims to work closely with businesses and prospective employees. Professionals sign up to the service where they are then guided through a thorough onboarding process. Recruitment tools enable them to schedule and keep track of job applications, and coaching and support are available from a Juggle Talent Specialist and Flex Liaison Officer.
According to the company, it also provides smart matching and paperwork. Businesses using Juggle to find the right candidate are vetted in advance to ensure that they embrace flexibility.
It claims to have already created flexible recruitment ecosystems for companies like Reallife Tech, Hopster, Hubble, and Whitehat.
Image credit: Juggle
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