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No system that involves any sort of block booking, be it Court listing or hospital appointments, is going to be efficient so let’s not delude ourselves it can be. However, in all of this, isn’t the lay client/patient , who might well want to be seen at 7.00 am or 7.00 pm, being ignored? Shouldn’t we, as professionals, be working in accordance with the needs of the client rather than expecting the client to fit round us?
Those who are familiar with the work of Catherine Hakim will know that approximately 1/3 of the population (and yes, of those 80% ARE male) prioritise work. Why not simply make it lawful to recruit those people by permitting roles to be designated as business critical, and hence not suitable for part-time, jobshare, etc; the holders agree they will work the hours and in the location required by the business needs of the organisation up to a certain maximum, say 60 hours per week.
The reality is there are people who ARE willing to work in that way, who are motivated by money, not work/life balance; and they are mainly men with a stay at home wife who don’t want to be hands on dads, and older women worried about the adequacy of their retirement provision.