Jen D’Souza – Recruitment Manager – Business, Operations, Specialist Support
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Julie Randles, CEO of Power2, a leading children and young people’s charity, to talk about term time contracts for her staff.
As a working mum to three young children (two school age), it was a powerful conversation.
September was a challenging month, and October hasn’t been the easiest. There is certainly a sense of “reset” or “new beginnings” after the summer and the school holidays, but it’s also full of new routines and changes. For us it was new uniforms, a new lunch booking system, a step up in reading and homework, lice, worms, hand, foot and mouth (sorry, but it’s true!), back to school colds and relentless tiredness. It’s also a joy to see the girls run back into school, to settle down at my desk (the kitchen table) and enjoy a hot tea. But the shift from working in the summer (with no rushing out of the door at 8.30am) to working in September (and rushing out of the door at 8.30am) felt intense. Now we are rolling towards the October half term holiday.
Julie and Power2 offer term time contracts. There are 62 staff at Power2 and nearly all work term time or part time contracts. Julie has been with the charity for 4.5 years but term time contracts have been part of the charity’s culture for 25 years.
As Julie said, “It is unusual. But it makes perfect sense.”
Power2 delivers early-intervention programmes in schools and the community. Staff are on annual contracts; they are given 10 weeks holiday and asked to take annual leave in the school holidays. Julie likes this approach as she said it means the staff get paid each month. If the charity needs additional support, staff may be asked to come in during the holidays and, if they can, they will be paid for that time.
”I’ve worked for Power2 since 2013 and progressed from a Trainee Assistant Facilitator to my current role of Senior Programme Lead (line manager for the London delivery team). Over the years I’ve worked anything between 1 and 5 days per week, always term time only. Having long holidays has been really beneficial for my own mental health and wellbeing, especially in years when I worked 4-5 days a week as a Programme Lead supporting vulnerable young people with complex needs and often challenging behaviour.
HannahPower2 Staff
Julie said, “The obvious benefit is for people with caring responsibilities (mostly women). However, we have other staff who take up the offer of 10 weeks annual leave, such as a member of staff who is from mainland Europe and travels to back France in the holidays. We also have younger members on the staff team who prefer more holiday. It is beneficial for a huge range of life circumstances, such as study or wellbeing, in addition to those who are parents and carers.”
Delivery staff work anything from 1 to 5 days a week and many other staff work part-time too, including SMT members. This flexible approach has led to positive recruitment, retention, culture, and the career development of a talented, part time workforce.
As Julie said, “This works for us. We are all about lived experience at Power2. We work with young people who are facing disadvantages and vulnerabilities and so this is a really important part of our ethos.”
In terms of recruitment, Julie said they have had no issues. In fact, the flexibility is greatly appealing to candidates looking for a flexible role and it has a huge positive impact on the wellbeing of the staff team. It particularly appeals to employees who need to bring two incomes into the household due to the economy, or for single parents juggling work with school holidays. Internally, staff are very aware of the benefits of working for Power2 and this leads to a powerful culture of autonomy.
”In my first few years at Power2 I often did other, temporary work in school holidays (kids’ clubs, music festival bars, travelling nanny jobs). More recently I’ve loved having 10 weeks holiday a year to spend with my 4-year-old son. As well as gaining quality time, working term time only must have saved me a few thousand pounds in nursery and holiday club fees! My managers and colleagues have always been very flexible and understanding as I juggle work with all the responsibilities of being a solo parent.
HannahPower2 Staff
I asked about the ‘old-classic’ of working a full-time role in part time hours. She said, “Our line managers only give our 3-day a week staff, 3 days of work.” The working culture is very open, transparent, and respectful.
I used to lead an educational social action programme working with schools and the third sector in London. I said to Julie that we would often use the summer holiday to evaluate and plan for the following academic year. Julie said (very sensibly!) that schools don’t want charities in during those first few weeks, so Power2 use the first two weeks of September to have their staff away day and plan the year ahead. Where I worked, we lost an amazing member of staff who requested a term time contract due to inflexibility in our HR policies and from leadership. Power2 have overcome this and, as a result, are retaining the best staff.
We realise there is a huge education piece around term time jobs. I am still buzzing from the conversation. There is much to learn.
I must admit, I did do a quick search of “Power2 Job Vacancies”. Anyone else?!
Julie and I will be doing a podcast later this year so please do look out for that.
If you would like to know more about offering term time positions within your organisation, or offering term time options as part of your approach to flexible working when recruiting, please do not hesitate to contact Jen for an informal discussion: Jen@charitypeople.co.uk and connect with Jen on LinkedIn: Jennifer D’Souza | LinkedIn
For more information about Power2, please visit their website: Power2 and connect with Julie Randles, CEO, on LinkedIn: Julie Randles | LinkedIn
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