Should Employees Be Allowed to Work Flexible Hours?
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 323 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
Some people believe that office workers should be allowed to choose their own working hours, as long as they meet their targets. Others argue that fixed hours are necessary for businesses to function effectively. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Address BOTH views with comparable depth before stating your own opinion
- 02Use concrete company examples (Spotify, Unilever) or real role examples (parents, night owls) to anchor claims
- 03Distinguish between role types — office vs customer-facing, junior vs senior — to add nuance
- 04Propose a specific compromise such as 'core hours' rather than a vague 'middle ground'
- 05Use hedging language: 'most', 'generally', 'as long as'
- 06End with a conclusion that names your preferred model, not just a summary of both sides
Model answer
323 words in 5 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
As laptops, cloud software, and instant messaging have replaced filing cabinets and fax machines, the question of when people should actually be at their desks has become harder to answer. Some argue that flexible hours are the natural next step for any modern office, while others insist that fixed schedules remain essential. In my view, the right answer lies between these positions: flexibility should be the default for most roles, but with sensible overlap windows.
Supporters of full flexibility argue that adults should be trusted to manage their own time as long as they deliver results. A parent may work best between five in the morning and midday, while a night owl may produce twice as much from eight in the evening. Forcing both into the same nine-to-five window wastes their natural rhythms and exhausts working parents who must balance school runs, medical appointments, and caring responsibilities. Companies that have introduced flexible hours, such as Spotify and Unilever, report higher engagement and lower attrition, suggesting that trust pays off.
On the other hand, opponents point out that businesses depend on coordination. Customer-facing teams cannot abandon the phones at random times, and project work often requires real-time discussion rather than asynchronous messages. If everyone picks their own hours, meetings become impossible to schedule, junior staff lose the informal mentoring that comes from working alongside seniors, and collaboration suffers. Critical roles such as reception, IT support, and trading desks simply must be staffed during set hours.
In my opinion, the most sensible compromise is a 'core hours' model, in which staff agree to be available during a defined window — say ten until three — but are otherwise free to start and finish whenever they like. This preserves the benefits of flexibility for individuals while protecting the team coordination that businesses need.
In conclusion, while pure flexibility and rigid fixed hours both have weaknesses, a core-hours arrangement captures the best of both approaches for most office work.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
32 more than the median answer for this task type
12 words at the shortest, 38 at the longest
3 more than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 23.1 words and vary by 6.1 words either side of that, running from 12 words to 38. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 10 of the 14 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
9 in total, spread across 4 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
on the other hand, while
such as
next
in conclusion
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 84 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 71 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 4 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Discuss both views thoroughly and present a clear personal position supported by reasons and examples.
Coherence & Cohesion
Use a logical four- or five-paragraph structure with smooth transitions between views and opinion.
Lexical Resource
Use precise vocabulary for workplace organisation, scheduling, and team coordination.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use a range of complex structures including conditionals, concessive clauses, and modal hedging.
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