The business case for flexibility

Hello! Welcome to my newsletter. If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, please join over 12,000 people and subscribe here so that you receive future newsletters straight to your inbox ??

We all know why flexible working is good for individuals, but often the benefit to businesses is less well-understood. I get asked for advice on how to pitch flexible working to senior leadership on an almost daily basis, so here are my top tips to prove out the business case for flexible working:

?? Show that it’s possible on any budget and in a way that suits every business.?

?

I genuinely believe that it’s possible for every single business to adopt some form of flexibility. One of the great things about flexible working is that it’s, well, flexible.?

A 4 day week, 4.5 day week or 9 day fortnight costs you nothing to put in place.?

The same can be said for a lot of flexible working policies: flexible hours, core hours, summer hours, remote working…these are all free to adopt.?

And flexibility can look different for every company:?

• At Amplience their remote first policy gives employees the freedom to do their work in the locations that make them the happiest and most productive.
• The team at OFX have a hybrid set up working 3-4 days a week at home and offer enhanced parental leave regardless of gender.
• Over at Influencer the team spend the majority of the week working collaboratively in their Soho office, and spending 1-2 days a week at home.
• Kairos Group describe themselves as ‘largely remote working’ with the team enjoying the social aspect of being together, but allowing the flexibility the team needs.?

?? Use data to show the positive impact of flexible working

There are countless studies that show what a positive business impact flexible working has. For example:

• A study by the CIPD found that businesses that offer flexible working have a 13% higher productivity rate than those that don't
• A study by the University of Warwick found that flexible working can lead to a 25% reduction in absenteeism
• A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that flexible working can lead to a 35% reduction in staff turnover.

You can choose a selection of statistics that you know complement and support your business’ goals and strategies. This helps senior management understand that implementing flexible working will not only benefit employees but also the business’ bottom line too.

???? ???? Emphasise how flexibility helps diversity and inclusion

Flexible working environments are more inclusive working environments. This automatically has an impact on diversity within a business; a metric which almost all businesses are keen to improve on. Furthermore, diversity is great for businesses for a number of reasons:

• A study by McKinsey & Company found that companies in the top quartile for racial/ethnic and gender diversity were respectively 36% and 25% more likely to have superior financial returns
• A study by the World Economic Forum found that companies with above-average diversity scores drive 45% average revenue from innovation, while companies with below-average diversity scores drive only 26%
• A study by the Harvard Business Review found that teams with diverse perspectives are more likely to make better decisions
• A study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that employees who feel included at work are more likely to be engaged and productive

??Show how flexibility helps retain employees and save on hiring costs

A direct impact of flexible working is that it makes it easier and cheaper to hire people who share the same values as your business.?

A clearly articulated flexible working policy has been shown to reduce hiring costs by 90% and increase retention. Additionally, data collected by LinkedIn shows that 34% of people would leave their job for one that offers flexible working.?

Flexibility works well alongside an output based culture that rewards and measures employees based on the work they produce, not the number of hours they sit at their laptop. This shift towards a working environment where autonomy and output are key to the business can have a massive impact on happiness, work-life balance and ultimately support retention.?

??Plan how you will implement, monitor and improve your flexible working policies

• Start by talking to your employees about what flexibility options they would be most excited about
• Be clear about the expectations of flexible working – flexibility doesn’t work without boundaries!?
• Provide training and support for employees who are new to flexible working
• Use a project tracker to make sure the changes are working for everyone, including the business

Flexible working is a win-win for businesses and employees. It's a decision that you won't regret.

If you offer any form of flexible working already, you should be on Flexa so you can discovered by millions of users for exactly that. Book a demo here to understand how you can use it to your advantage and reach millions of people searching for flexible companies.

Or you can benchmark your whole working environment to see how you rank here .