Our services around flexible and remote working are offered as part of our Beyond 9 to 5 initiative. Beyond 9 to 5 is a national flexible working portal aimed at three main audiences:

1. Employers, who may look to flexible working as:

• an alternative to redundancy, enabling a reduction in costs whilst retaining talent
• a way of bringing skills into the organisation that are not needed on a full-time basis, but aren't economic at consultancy rates.

We offer guidance to employers at a policy and culture-change level, but also practical help for line managers in changing working methods including:

• technologies for remote working
• change management
• methodologies for managing remote and flexible workers.

2. Flexible workers and would-be flexible workers, who want to influence the change towards flexible working, or who find themselves within an organisation adopting flexible working practices, and need the knowledge, the business case and the practical skills to adapt.

3. Non-traditional workers: Those excluded from or wishing to work beyond the traditional 9 to 5, who need to adopt skills and practices in order to launch themselves as self-employed professionals or small businesses:

• in their current industry
• in a new field, for which they will need to be skilled up and supported online
• in a new online field, for which they will need to be skilled up and supported online, and be able to deliver online

There is also the "fourth audience" of those who provide services to these sectors, for whom Beyond 9 to 5 is a way of reaching their audience, as well as communications structures and training for themselves to ensure the service they offer is informed. For many of the Beyond 9 to 5 partners and funders the portal and online community is a vehicle for their internal communications, their external collaborations, and to some extent the marketing, delivery and monitoring of their service.