Conference

Are you ready for flex? Discussing the 2026 flexible-working NHS Staff Standard

Join our online conference to learn how agilab can support you to develop a flexible mindset
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General information

Time
1 December 2026 10:00 - 14:00 GMT
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Audience
Open to all

Speakers

  • Headshot of Jen Gardner with wavy light hair near a window in natural light
    Jennifer Gardner
    Assistant Director, Staff Experience and Social Partnerships NHS Employers
  • Headshot of Emma Russell
    Dr Emma Russell External link icon
    Director and Founder agilab
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As part of the 2026 NHS Staff standard, NHS employees can expect flexible-working to be encouraged and supported where this is possible. In this event we will encourage workers, managers and workforce leaders to assess their readiness for flex, by drawing on the latest academic research, expert insights and NHS best practice. You can reserve your place now.

During this free online agilab event we will be:

  • focusing on the details of the NHS flexible-working Staff Standard
  • sharing agilab research on how managerial mindsets can foster or hinder a decent and agile approach to flexibility
  • sharing best practice exemplars from the NHS
  • inviting you to pose your questions about decent and agile flexible-working to a panel of academic experts. 

Delegates are invited to take a quick Check your mindset quiz in advance of the event to find out more about their readiness for flex. This will be launching on our website soon.

Who should attend

Everyone with an interest in how to implement the new 2026 NHS staff standard on flexible-working. 

Meet our academic experts

  • Dr Becky Faith is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Her research looks at the implications of technological change for human well-being, digital rights, and gender justice. Becky also co-leads Research Theme 4 of the ESRC Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit) which looks at how the digitalisation of work affects inclusive access to healthy working lives. Becky has a PhD and an MSc in Technology Strategy and Policy Research from the Open University.

  • Jill Rubery is a professor of comparative employment systems, and executive director of the Work and Equalities Institute at Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. She is an international expert on gender and employment and co-ordinated the European Commission’s expert group on gender and employment from 1991 to 2007 and has consulted for the EU, the ILO and the EHRC on gender issues including issues of employment, pay, working time and welfare state support. Her new edited book (forthcoming 2026), on Women in Turbulent Times follows on from previous works on Women and Recession and Women and Austerity. 

  • Richard Dickens is professor of economics at the University of Sussex and a leading authority on labour markets, with research that has shaped both academic debate and public policy. A major strand of his work examines the impact of minimum wages on employment outcomes and pay distribution. He served as an Independent Member of the UK Low Pay Commission from 2014 to 2021. He co-leads the Skills and Rewards research theme at the ESRC Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit), where his research examines how artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are reshaping employer demand for skills. His current work uses job vacancy and labour market data to investigate changing skill requirements, including the impact of AI on graduate employment and the implications for career opportunities and labour market inequalities.

Accessibility

The event will be hosted online via Teams Webinar. This will allow you to turn on automatically generated subtitles and will mean that speakers can be clearly highlighted to allow you to lip read.

About agilab

agilab is an award-winning academia-NHS knowledge exchange forum for sharing the latest professional and scholarly insights around what works for flexible-working in the NHS. Through agilab, we have come to understand some of the key barriers and enablers of a decent and agile approach to implementing flexibility. They have developed resources for managers and workers who want to roll-out decent and agile flexible-working opportunities and have also contributed to the NHS Flex First campaigns.

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