Flexible Work and How Employers Can Successfully Implement It

With unemployment rates returning to an all-time low of 3.4% in April 2023, employee requests and demands are continuing to climb.?One of the biggest trends in the workforce right now is the opportunity and desire for flexible work options. What is a flexible work schedule? We will define that for you this week, along with how this work schedule can work wonders for a team.

Right now, flexible work is one of the top factors when attracting new talent and retaining current employees. Some may even argue that flex work is the future, and without it, you as an employer will be left in the dust.

Flexible Working Defined?

What is flexible working??Flexible work allows employees to work outside of their standard and traditional work schedule. This gives people the ability to work what is convenient for them and their families. This doesn't mean people aren't working at all.

An example of flexible work could look like a flexible start and end time so parents can attend their kid's sporting events or allow parents to use split lunch hours to drop off or pick up their children from school. Flex-work can also be allowing remote employees to have flexibility on where they are working from, such as their home office, or somewhere abroad. Accommodating doctor appointments, therapy sessions, and general family matters can also all fall under providing employees with flex work.

Flexible working could include the options of flex time, telecommuting, working part-time, or a 40-hour work week in 4 days, to name a few options.?Sometimes employers could enforce stipulations as to how many hours someone needs to work each day or the percentage of hours expected to be worked during “regular business hours. Generally speaking, flexible work and the "rules" are defined by the employer.

Not for Everyone

For some businesses, offering a flexible work schedule isn’t conducive to their business or the services offered. For those businesses that can offer it to their employees, it is imperative to set some guidelines and perimeters to successfully implement the strategy. Offering flexibility in the workplace is not a one-size-fits-all, and should be defined by several people. Giving staff an expectation of how to use the options is also critical so everyone is on the same page.

So, how does a company successfully implement a flexible work schedule strategy? We are here to give you some guidance.

Start Small?

Before rolling out the option of a flexible work strategy to the entire company, perhaps starting in a small department might be a better option to see if it works for your company.?That way you can determine whether this will work for your company and if it does, it allows you time to work out the kinks of what does and does not work in the program.???

Setting Expectations?

Most important is setting clear expectations. Management needs to communicate what that flexible schedule looks like – do employees need to work X number of hours during “regular” business hours, X number of days on-site, and how frequently should they be communicating with management? Performance expectations and consequences of not meeting those performance expectations should also be defined, and clear-cut examples should be provided to staff so they understand how to best utilize the schedule.

Accountability?

Just like working remotely, a flexible work schedule is a privilege.?For this strategy to work, it is important that employees hold themselves accountable to be able to work without supervision to get their work done. If someone is underperforming, instead of penalizing everyone in the company, creating a game plan to get those underperforming individuals back on track is the better way to manage the strategy.?What that plan is depends on your company and what works for you as an employer.

Communication?

This should be obvious, unfortunately, that is not always the case.? Communicating when there is a problem isn’t the only time someone should be communicating. Keeping the team in the loop about working hours with regular check-ins and updates is critical to the success of a flexible work strategy.? Without communication, this strategy will fail.?

Conclusion

It is no surprise that current talent and employed staff are looking for employers who are flexible and offer flexible schedules. Keeping this in mind, if your business can adapt and offer additional flex work options, this will only improve your retention, and allow for recruiting a larger talent pool.

This may not work for every company though – in some companies, there are customers that need to be taken care of between the standard 8-5 workdays, and working outside of those hours may not be an option. It is important to evaluate what your company can and cannot do. Making exceptions for some, but not all might not be the best strategy for the business or a happy team.

However you may be looking to implement flex work for your staff if it does work for your business, it will undoubtedly be a wonderful benefit admired by many.