EARLIER this year, AFF teamed up with online education business Digital Mums to offer one Army spouse a free place on its social media management course.

For those of you who are looking for a career that fits around Army family life, the organisation is ideally placed to empower you to gain flexible employment.

AFF has long campaigned to improve the employability of Service spouses and partners.

Our Employment & Training Specialist, Laura Lewin, said: “We continue to receive feedback from spouses who tell us that the pressures of military life, in particular managing childcare, can make it hard to maintain a career while following the flag.

“Flexible opportunities such as this can help to boost spouses’ confidence and allow them to build a career around family life.”

It certainly worked for Army spouse Ella Biggs who, after having two children, was keen to do work that fitted round the family and wasn’t affected by moving house every two years.

She explained: “Another Army wife recommended Digital Mums and I was absolutely sold. Whilst the course was tough, it was manageable and gave me the confidence to get back in the workplace.”

Societal shift

Digital Mums’ goal is to encourage today’s employers to ditch the ‘nine-to-five, coat on chair’ approach and instead opt for #WorkThatWorks.

“Our own research found that seven in ten employees would like to have flexible working but only 12 per cent have ever asked for it,” said co-founder Nikki Cochrane. “And more than half think a request would be viewed negatively by their employer.

“This suggests that the government’s ‘right to request’ law isn’t going far enough. We want the government to change the definition from solely describing ‘a way of working that suits an employee’s needs’ to ‘work that works for employees and businesses’.

“It’s time to change the culture around flexible working and stop it being seen as a dirty word or an employee perk. A new definition will set us on the path to changing the way we work forever.”


To find out more about Digital Mums, visit digitalmums.com

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