Is there an employee perk that matters more than anything else? Bill Gates thinks so.

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The setup: Sally and Joey have just finished their lattes and post-coffee scones. Joey gets up from the table to head to the office, but Sally stays seated. In fact, she gets her laptop out of her bag and opens it up, ready for a productive day of work.

Here's their conversation over a cup of hot coffee!

Joey is taken aback. “Are you not going into the office today?”

“This is my office today,” Sally replies.

Joey continues to prod for details. “What are you talking about? Where will you have meetings? And how will your team be able to count on you when you’re not around?”

Sally motions for Joey to sit back down. “To tell you the truth, Joey,” she says. “I don’t even know if my team will be around the office, either.”

Joey can’t believe it. At his company, employees are expected to do the bulk of their work in the office, with each other. It’s why he's worked hard to provide a working environment they won’t want to leave. ??

“My team loves being in the office,” he says. “They have all the perks they need and have asked for - free snacks, a meditation room, a video game system, heck even summer Fridays this year.”

Sally gives him credit. “Those are all great things to have to build camaraderie, and it’s awesome that you listened to what your team wanted. But none of what you mentioned is the greatest perk of all, according to Bill Gates." ??

“What perk is that?” asks Joey. “Does it have something to do with why you’re still at this coffee shop?

Nailed it. Sally responds:

Flexibility that fosters productivity is a perk we all want.

The freedom to work from anywhere has been proven in a Harvard study to increase productivity by over 13% compared to traditional office set-ups. It even saved one company millions of dollars in office-related expenses.

It’s starting to come together for Joey. “That does sound nice,” he says. “I mean who wouldn’t want to work in their pajamas at home from time to time. But how do you manage a program like that?”

Sally takes a sip from her freshly refilled coffee cup. “Really, all your team members want is choice, and letting them decide where best suits them to get work done on a given day shows you trust them to make appropriate decisions. "

When I first implemented the work-from-anywhere structure at my company, I made sure to test its FLEX:

Fit - Forget 9 to 5 and get everyone focused on the why and not the how. ??

Longevity - Retain your employees by giving them the tools and options to work on their terms. ??

Efficiency - Let your team use UBER or work from home a couple of days a week. ??

X-Factors - There is power in face to face so do monthly or quarterly themed activities that bring people together to break bread and build relationships. ??

Joey settles in and gets comfortable at the table. “I think I’m ready to get flexible. Time to order another scone and fire off a few emails from right here.”

Bonus points: Jason Fried has a radical theory of working that you might want to watch to dig deeper into this topic who says that the office isn't a good place to do actual work. He calls out the two main offenders (call them the M&Ms) and offers three suggestions to make the workplace actually work.

Leaderpoint: Real perks typically will cost you nothing and give your team everything.

Question: So, do you FLEX at your work?

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