Generation flex? Why it's time to rethink our attitude to work

With the cult of the individual in leadership, ego-free collaboration is extremely rare. Examples of really successful job-shares are, as a consequence, scarce – which is probably why it doesn't often occur to employers to consider it as an option.

When her boss suggested that Lucy job share, she wondered why she hadn't thought about it before. Both her and Jane, the other half of the share, were mothers of young children. Both were capable, ambitious and determined to keep their careers in the civil service on the promotion track. And it was dawning on both that senior, career-enhancing positions that were also part-time hardly ever came up.

With a job share, you are employing two people for one job. The role is not split, just the hours. Both work half the time, both take on full responsibility for every aspect of the job – their team has two leaders, but only one on any given day.

Taking a more flexible approach to organising work is the obvious solution to getting and keeping more parents in employment. And on paper we have come a long way. Parents have a right to request flexible work, and are protected from discrimination while making that request.

But a conversation with Lydia Seymour, a barrister specialising in employment and discrimination law, reveals the experience of mothers across different workplaces is far from positive. She speaks to people when the employment relationship has gone wrong, and a quick look at the questions submitted to a Mumsnet Q&A she did recently, show that this happens across sectors and at all levels.

Even in roles where flexible working should be easy, it is often difficult for the individual employee to get terms that work for them. Shift workers find that requests to avoid night shifts and weekends are refused. Managers can struggle with balancing the needs of people with young children with the needs of the rest of the workforce.

Parents do not have a right to flexible work, they only have a right to request it. In workplaces that are feeling the pressure of an unforgiving economy and cuts, leaders are demanding more from less – and flexibility is a victim.

Jane Christopherson works flexibly, but for her this could not be described as part time. She is the managing partner of the Curzon Partnership, a headhunter in the extremely competitive energy sector, and mother of three children aged between 18 months and 7 years. Her work and life are blended, rather than separate and balanced. Work fits in and around the children. An international client can require an email at 4am on a Sunday morning, and a small boy can need to be taken to a swimming lesson at 4pm on a Monday afternoon.

This is a very human approach to work, but achieving this blend requires autonomy and trust. The less control people have over their work, the less able they are to make it happen. It also shifts the emphasis from hours worked to what is achieved. Managers are forced to value what comes out, rather than what goes in.

When Yahoo's Marissa Mayer announced she was banning home working, she was admitting she didn't really know how to measure productivity, so she counts bums on seats instead. Mayer forced employees to make work their sole priority.

Empowering parents to design working arrangements that fit their family life is vital. At the moment it's every woman for herself when negotiating flexible work, but bringing these women together will strengthen their fight and help change the workplace for the better.

Rachel Krys is a campaigner for inclusion at work. Mumsnet is holding an event to look at issues such as flexible working on 15 June. Find out more about Workfest here

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