Who cares? Opportunities and challenges posed by agile working practices for carers employed in a higher education faculty in the South-East of England

Caring responsibilities increasingly impact workforces. Expanding agile working practices presents a potential solution to address competing demands between familial and employment responsibilities. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of academic staff with caring responsibilities and their managers regarding the benefits and challenges of agile working. Nineteen participants (n = 10 staff, n = 9 managers) took part in focus groups conducted in a faculty at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in South-east England between March and July 2022. Data was reflexively thematically analyzed. Staff and manager groups had similar experiences of agile working and perceived multi-generational caring challenges. The benefits of agile working were flexibility, improved professional outputs, and better physical and mental well-being. Challenges included professional relationships and unmet technology and infrastructure needs. A desire to continue and optimize agile working was expressed. There was recognition that further guidance was needed to define expectations for carers. Faculty-wide recommendations generated from this study offer a first step in developing infrastructure to support academic staff with caring responsibilities at one HEI. These may, with development, inform HEI policy development and frameworks, and have wide-reaching implications.