Will flexibility be the new currency?

Attracting and retaining talent has always been a priority for all organisations. If we deep dive into reasons why colleagues leave organisations, they could vary from career growth to better compensation, from work location to work culture etc. Over years demographics and generations have led some factors take precedence over others. ?Much as it may sound like a stereotype, empirically, we’ve seen baby boomers hugely value job security, whereas Gen Z assign a lot of importance to flexibility and freedom of choice. As we evolve and become future-ready, organizations need to transform the narrative and move away from just showcasing role, salary and growth in joining negotiations to uplifting the discussion and talking about the degree of flexibility the organisation offers.

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Though in the last decade India Inc. had already started pivoting offerings around overall wellbeing of colleagues, the pandemic forced us to prioritise safety and health of colleagues more than ever before. The pandemic challenged the traditional office jobs and proved that the industry is much more adaptive and resilient to unforeseen events than we expected. Over the past one year we have clearly seen a wide spectrum of approaches being adopted by organizations. A lot of setups have started to insist on 100% work from office, whereas many others have embraced flexibility whereby they offer a hybrid arrangement - a mix of working from office and home.? The commercial property footprint has also started seeing a lot of interesting developments. Some players have rationalised overall office space, whereas others have repurposed the property spend in creating more collaborative workspaces to make the environment more attractive to Gen Z’s. While each of these work arrangements largely depends on the nature of work, organizational culture and strategic direction – change continues to be one underlying reality for most setups.

With overall cost of living improvements in India and emergence of gig economy, the current generation does not purely look for a job as means to earn money. They are known to give their physical, social and mental wellbeing an equal importance along with building a career as a source of sustenance and growth. Most of the colleagues I have engaged have called out the commute time from home to office as a big challenge – and perhaps a key cause of resistance to 100% work from office. Most of the Tier 1 cities in India have large scale infrastructure upgrade projects underway, which has in turn resulted in significant increase in commute time and cost through these phases of development and change. This translates to a few hours lost in commute every day. Those who work from home are able to focus a lot more on work-life balance given the ability to save on logistics and commute time.

More broadly, along with flexibility in work patterns, this generation values flexibility to build more skills, adopt unconventional career path to growth, gig opportunities and experiences. A platter of flexible career offerings can be a lucrative retention lever for talent now and in future.

Flexibility can take various forms in addition to work from office, home or hybrid. Examples could be:

-??????? Ability to flex working hours by opting for a start and end time of your choice

-??????? Flexibility to work reduce number of hours, number of days,

-??????? Work from a location of your choice and so on.

Most of these forms of flexibility cannot be offered by organisations that mandate 100% work from office. There isn’t sufficient data and evidence to indicate that organisations that are mandating 100% work from office have comparatively differentiated levels of attrition and attraction challenge. We however have seen colleagues face challenges when they transition from an organisation that provides high flex to no flex. In the times to come I do believe that flexibility will be the new currency. When colleagues explore opportunities outside the organisation, they would value and be attracted to work for organisations that provide flexibility to them. They still may choose to go to office every day but the ability to leverage on the flex would remain an advantage especially during key life events. Thus, in addition to competitive compensation, organizations need to sell and brand their flexi offerings. More over this is the only benefit that companies can offer which does not come with a cost implication, hence a win-win for all!

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The author is Maneesh Menda, Head of Human Resources, International Hubs, NatWest Group. The views expressed are personal.

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