3 December 2020 Working pattern change

Employers advertising vacancies may notice some changes when entering information about a job's working pattern when using the new NHS Jobs service to create their adverts. From 3 December, the new service's 'What's the working pattern?' screen will no longer have a field to enter hours and sessions. This will provide more flexibility around advertising multiple working patterns. Flexible working is becoming a more popular option for potential employees, especially in the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes will also help employers show that they’re more open and transparent to discussing flexible working options. When an advert is published, applicants will no longer be able to view the job with a set amount of hours. Employers can however add any further information about hours to the 'create job overview' box when creating the job advert. These changes were introduced within the current NHS Jobs service in early September in light of the 'We Are the NHS: People Plan for 2020/21 – action for us all'. NHS England and NHS Improvement have been working closely with the NHSBSA to ensure that the future service makes it easier for organisations to consider flexible working options, at the point of advertising a role. By enabling a more transparent approach to flexibility, we hope this will drive more compassionate and open conversations about the potential to work flexibly within the NHS, to attract new talent and support the development and retention of the fantastic staff we already have in posts across the NHS.