A starting point for you….
A "flexible workplace" can mean different things to different people, including:
- A 4-day work week (compressed work schedule)
- Part virtual environment (work at home a couple of days a week)
- Virtual environment (work at home 5 days a week)
- Shared jobs
There are a variety of benefits to having a flexible workplace:
- Increased ability to attract and retain top talent
- Increased productivity
- Reduced costs as businesses grow (no need to more office space)
- Helps create a better work/life balance for employees
- Enables a larger pool of candidates to choose from
Here is how you can get started in creating a flexible workplace within your business:
- Think about how you can build more flexibility into the workplace – what roles and responsibilities enable for a more flexible arrangement?
- Is there a driving desire for flexibility by your employees – and what is the background of those individuals who are interested in a more flexible arrangement? Are they your best employees? Employees who have been with you the longest?
- What infrastructure, policies and procedures will need to be put in place to support a more flexible workforce?
If you decide to move forward, plan for it ahead of time and have a pilot group of your best employees (now there is one way to reward employees for their hard work!) try it out. You can then work out any kinks, evaluate how it is going, and make adjustments as necessary before you roll it out to a wider audience.
Not every position in the organization may be suitable for a flexible arrangement. If there are some individuals in roles and responsibilities that just cannot work in a more flexible arrangement because of the tasks they do, work with them individually and/or in small groups to determine how you can make their jobs a bit more flexible for them.
There is so much more to think about – but this gives you a starting point!
Your thoughts?? What are you seeing in your business? What works and what doesn’t? What are the challenges in creating a flexible workplace? Please share in the Comments field below. Thanks!
Thanks for your comment Ron. You are so correct about fairness and monitoring for (and trying to prevent) abuse of flex work systems. It certainly isn’t an easy thing to implement given all that has to be thought about and considered – but well worth the effort involved in planning it out to be effective and fair. I do believe companies are starting to see the value (and the need!) for flex work schedules. I truly believe you can only retain your best employees when you help them juggle what needs to be done at work with the myriad of responsibilities at home. I do like your idea of balancing it out for those who cannot participate in a flexible (work at home) schedule through other options. Thanks for reading and for your thoughtful comments. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!
Best,
Gina
Hi Gina,
Great topic. I would have to concur with everything you said. Now, the biggest or potential problems in establishing a flexible work schedule if not well thought-out and monitored are of course fairness and abuse.
In addressing the issue of fairness, you’re right in saying that not every employee will be able to take part in this particular company fringe benefit. That being so, an employer doesn’t want to sabotage their efforts of getting increased productivity, loyalty and morale as well as retaining talent from one group of employees while getting the exact opposite effects from another group because they don’t qualify for flex time for whatever reason. So it is imperative that employers only use flex time as an earned incentive-base reward for one’s hard work, proven track record and years of service — all of which speaks to the dependability as well as the responsibleness of the employee being offered the perk. Now for those employees who don’t qualify for flex time because, for example, the nature of their work requires them to be on-site at all times during normal working hours, employers needs to have a comparable fringe benefit to offer them that is either tailored to their job description, or perhaps give them extra paid personal or vacation days per year.
As for the issue of abuse, again, if done correctly and judiciously, employers can decrease the rate of flex time abuse by having stringent monitoring mechanisms in place, especially for those companies that aren’t sells based or employees who don’t work on commission or on some other quota system.
All in all, I think flex time is a good thing, and is needed more so today than ever. With more and more employees taking care of not only their children but also their aging parent(s), flex time helps to ease the worry and stress of having to make certain sacrifices.
Ron