How to do flexible working well with Farfetch

Sian Keane, CPO, Farfetch.

Farfetch has been offering flexible working since 2013, and it has been offering flexible benefits since 2014 when the fashion brand relaxed its fixed working hours – the core working hours differ between the different offices globally.

Then in 2015, Farfetch reviewed holiday allowances and parental leave – the company offers enhanced and shared parental leave, adoption leave, as well as 32 days of holiday.

Four years later, the brand went even further and launched ‘Boomerang’ – a sabbatical program – as well as two GiveBack days annually for its employees – known as Farfetchers.

For Farfetch and Keane, flexible working “is about providing people both choice and autonomy to balance both work and home life”. The company tries to create fair and equitable policies for its 6,000 employees across 19 countries. “What works in one country, may not in another”, but the aims are the same globally, explains Keane.

COVID-19 and the world of work

While Farfetch was more on board with flexible working than many other businesses globally, it was still impacted by the pandemic.

Although Farfetch’s diverse workforce spread across offices, warehouses and retail stores also experienced the pandemic differently, the company focused on “caring for our Farfetchers in line with our values”.

The brand’s core values are ‘Todos Juntos’ (or the spirit of togetherness) – where Farfetchers help not only each other, but also customers and partners, many of whom were hit hard by the pandemic.

Linked to this is ‘Be Human’ where Farfetchers are respectful and kind to their colleagues and welcome mistakes as learning opportunities.

In addition, Keane’s HR team “increased our visibility via communication, technology, and team support”.

“What served us well through the weight of the pandemic – and continues to do so now – is the open dialogue we have with our Farfetchers through group-wide communication channels”.

Keane notes that Farfetch was very aware that a big challenge while working from home during COVID-19 for office-based staff was “the ongoing time spent at home in front of screens, with limited human contact with colleagues”.

To tackle this, Farfetch dialed up its employee listening to gain “critical data and insights” on areas of success or areas where people were struggling. Keane is clear that “listening to our people and taking action on areas that will drive the most value for our people” is a core people priority for Farfetch.

Tech tool Humu was on hand to help. It showed Farfetch it needed to scale up wellbeing initiatives – including the launch of its Positive Living strategy, additional time off, as well as transforming GiveBack days (which were hard to take during the pandemic) into caring days so employees could focus on themselves and their wellbeing.

Humu will continue to help the company in figuring out its future of work model.

“We are combining keeping a close eye on trends, continuing to listen to our people and taking action, as well as trialing new ideas” – for instance, ‘Furfetchers’ where UK workers bring their dogs to the office.

But “one thing is for certain, flexibility is here to stay,” emphasizes Keane.

Helping everyone thrive at work

Keane is particularly pleased that Humu’s latest happiness survey found 86% of Farfetchers felt a sense of belonging to the brand – aka they feel included and are able to be their true selves at work. In addition, 82% were happy at work and 88% would recommend Farfetch as a great place to work.

This leads us onto another core tenet of the world of work at Farfetch – diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Our people priorities are deep-rooted in creating the conditions for our Farfetchers to develop their career and thrive” – this is achieved by “building a consciously inclusive culture and investing in our wellbeing strategy”.

Being “positively inclusive” is core to Farfetch, and it extends beyond the company. It wants to see change in the fashion community as a whole. While things are improving in the fashion sector, there is still work to be done to ensure that recruitment and promotions are based on merit, not other factors.

As part of its 2030 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, Farfetch wants to continue to improve inclusivity at work, as well as on its platform.

As well as being a conscious inclusion leader, Farfetch’s 2030 ESG goals also include making fashion more sustainable – such as through a more efficient packaging supply chain, making deliveries and returns carbon neutral, and informing customers which are the most sustainable brands on the marketplace.

Currently, 53% of employees and 35% of the leadership team are women, the fashion retailer wants to do better – starting by collecting employed data about ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religion. This is another example of when data and information is power for Farfetch.

Farfetch not only investing in de-biasing its recruitment process, but also ensuring there is diverse representation at all levels of the organization. For this reason, it has set up virtual manager development training and is highly focused on career development.

The employer relies on Workday’s learning platform – as well as Coursera and Udemy – to provide a range of learning and upskilling opportunities for all workers.

Given Farfetch’s prioritization of flexible working and career development – key causes of the ‘Great Resignation’ – it is no surprise that the retailer is not seeing a mass exodus of talent.

“Our attrition rates are still below pre-pandemic levels,” explains Keane. But Farfetch is not resting on its laurels; “this is something we do not take lightly, and we continue to be laser focused on what we need to do to maintain, and improve, the people experience of Farfetchers”.

“Our ‘do what’s never been done’ approach provides an incredible opportunity for people to accelerate their career, while revolutionizing the [fashion] industry for good”, concludes Keane.