L-R: Dan Stokes & Liz McMillan
A young football referee and a compassionate carer have praised bosses at a leading accountancy firm in the West Midlands for helping them to pursue their pastimes.
Semi-professional ref Dan Stokes and care home volunteer Liz McMillan are both benefitting from an innovative flexitime initiative by employers Prime Accountants Group, which has offices in Solihull, Coventry and Birmingham.
The flexible hours, which are offered to all employees at Prime, have allowed aspiring football league official Dan, an accounts senior from Bromsgrove, the time to travel the country for crucial midweek matches, while audit accounts manager Liz, 28, was able to begin volunteering.
Dan, 25, a level four referee officiating in the National North and South Divisions, explained: “Joining Prime at the start of this year has been a real game-changer for me and my football commitments.
“You’re able to work the hours which suit you best, which is great for me in respect of my regular midweek matches.
“My usual working day is 8am to 4pm, so I’m still doing my 37 hours a week but finishing earlier means I’m no longer rushing to get to games.
“We often have journeys of around an hour or an hour-and-a-half and have to be at grounds for 6.15pm ahead of a 7.45pm kick-off.
“Finishing at 4pm means I now arrive in good time for the game and can eat properly before matches, too. It makes a big difference.”
Liz, who’s from Redditch, is making a big difference with her Age UK volunteer work at a local care home courtesy of a flexible working day.
She said: “Prime’s flexitime approach has been a big help for me in pursuing this volunteer work at the care home and they have been really supportive, so it wasn’t a problem at all.
“The initial Age UK training process and induction course was only available between 10am and 4pm, so I had to arrange my work hours to allow myself the time to attend.
“I help out wherever I can, wherever they want me to and just giving those few hours gives me a nice feeling knowing I’ve had a positive impact in some way and someone has benefitted from me being there.
“Some don’t have visitors, don’t have any family so you are the regular, friendly face they look forward to seeing.”
Kevin Johns, managing director at Prime Accountants, said: “Our attitude is that we want our staff to have a rich and rewarding life at work and in their own time, so we offer benefits such as flexitime and a relaxed dress code, which hopefully make them feel more comfortable and allows them to work around their out-of-office commitments and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
“We believe having happy and fulfilled people on board is a huge benefit for our business and for society – Liz and Dan are superb examples of this.”
For more information about Prime Accountants, visit: www.primeaccountants.co.uk or call 0121 711 2468.
