I Run A Small VAR. Here’s My View On Flexible Working

I started Koncise almost 12 years ago. There was no plan when I started of how I wanted the business to be other than to ‘pay the bills’.

My wife and I had just found out we were expecting our first child and I knew what I was doing would give me a great opportunity for a real work/life balance if I could get some early wins under my belt. I would be able to spend quality time with my new child and my wife but also get the work done as and when required.

At first I felt guilty working from home (often without a full day’s work to keep me busy), while my heavily pregnant wife was in an office full time. But she was very supportive and said as long as the work is done, that’s one of the reasons for this flexibility! That certainly made me feel more at ease with how and when I worked.

In 2019, with four people working at Koncise, I decided to get an office near to home. I don’t think I realised at the time, but this was game changing. We were in full-time and I loved it. The laughs, the chat, the collaboration and most importantly, continuous daily contact were things I didn’t realise I’d been missing.

Nine months later and lockdown came.

I’ll be honest, like most people, I enjoyed it at first – the weather, the kids, homeschooling, the working from home.

But after a while, I found it hard to concentrate. We carried on and made it work, as did the vast majority of the population.

In December 2020 and January 2021 my wife needed an operation, which caused a lot of worry and stress for our family. It was a tough time worrying about her, homeschooling our two daughters and trying to run a business. Thankfully my wife is well and that is behind us but it wasn’t easy.

I do wonder if Covid hadn’t happened and we were in the office full time still, how I would have coped with that in the equation too? Maybe the flexibility that the lockdowns had given us, albeit mandated by law, helped this situation my family were in?

Thanks must go to the wonderful team I have at Koncise who really stepped up during that time to keep everything running. I couldn’t have done it without them!

So why am I telling you all this?

Once the lockdowns were behind us and we returned to a ‘new normal’, we agreed to three days in the office. Whilst I go in more – and new starters are four days – I do believe that flexibility is key to office working.

Everyone has a different understanding of ‘flexible working’ and it is human nature to compare notes with friends, family, clients and partners about how their employers are approaching this equation. Some have mandated more time in the office, some less and some none.

But my definition of flexible working isn’t about the days you are in the office, but – rather – more about having the flexibility to go to your child’s sports day, get the washing machine fixed, wait for a delivery or sometimes just choose to work from home. And this flexibility should come without the guilt we used to have asking to ‘wfh’ or going cap in hand to request this.

I’d like to think that this is actually the case when it comes to working for a small reseller like Koncise.

We are in the office, but hopefully the team feel like there is a large amount of flexibility there when needed – especially now we all have dogs.