The final conference for the first phase of the Flexible Employment options Project was attended by over 90 delegates. In the feedback the feeling was that the event had been good value for money, with the majority feeling that the main presentations were "good" or "excellent". The main focus was on the project results from the pilot schemes trialling flexible working and recommendations for action, with a case study from one of the line managers involved. There were presentations on the importance of leadership, governance and management (HEFCE), current legislation (Martineau Johnson, Solicitors), and success with flexible working and work/life balance (BT).

Issues concerning academic staff, and generally the need for information on the practicalities of implementing flexible working are being picked up in FEO Phase 2.

Feedback comments included:

"Event was interesting and useful."

"Very well structured and delivered."

"Very informative conference and useful findings. Thank you for organising this."

"Very enjoyable conference. Good content with mixture of facts and findings. Thoroughly enjoyed the day and the professionalism with which it was presented."

"Very useful and interesting event - wish my senior managers could have been there! Suggest Vice-Chancellors are given briefing at some point to encourage them to look at the advantages of flexible working systems."

"More discussion on impact on academic departments, rather than support posts."

"Would have liked more focus on rolling out the scheme; how barriers can be overcome."

"A manager's tale - although we had seen this presentation before, Emma is still enthusiastic and a great advocate, she could even convince our Dean of Students to take FEO on."

Legislation - "Superb presentation on a very difficult and often "heavy "area."

This second seminar for the FEO project reached an even wider audience than the first, with over 80 people attending from higher education institutions all over the country. The day focused on building the business case for flexibility, current and future legislation and its impact on flexible working arrangements, and the practicalities of introducing flexible working. There were also some initial results from the project pilot studies, and a chance to hear from line-managers supervising flexible teams on a day-to-day basis.

Feedback comments included:

"Very good and useful. Thank you and keep up the good work."

"Excellent conference."

"I really enjoyed the seminar. The content was great and the practical organisation and facilities were excellent - when's the next one?"

"Good mixture of background and practical issues."

This was the project's first event and was held at Staffordshire University. It proved very successful and attracted 28 delegates from 23 Higher Education Institutions. Presentations included the current practice in flexible working within HE, some early results from the FEO project and examples of best practice that already exist in HE. Feedback from delegates indicated that the day had been useful and informative, and that they looked forward to future events and hearing more as the pilot scheme progressed.

Feedback comments included:

"Friendly, professional and efficient."

"Work-life balance is becoming an issue…your seminar proved very informative."

"A very good - focused - day. Not only informative but very enjoyable."

"One of the better seminars I have attended."

"Look forward to the next one."