Are you a flexible employer?

What exactly is a flexible employer?

Let’s be clear, work life balance or flexibility DOES NOT just mean work from home options. It also means –

• Flexible working hours?– for example completing the required tasks within a standard 38 hour week but not being confined by dedicated start and finish times.
• Ability to work from home (WFH)– for example designated days to work from home, or half day in office and half day from home.
• Ability to work remotely?– which is different to WFH, so going away, interstate or overseas and working.
• Valuing wellbeing?– mental and physical wellbeing, offering gym memberships or discounts, or offering monthly in-house yoga classes or counselling services.
• Being a flexible leader?– meaning you know that managing 2 people in the same way is not effective, every single person’s behaviours through to genetics are individual so why should they be managed the same??
• Ability to buy additional annual leave, take unpaid leave or accrue time in lieu.?This one is pretty self-explanatory.?

There are so many more I could list but at the end of the day it comes down to being open. Open to listening, open to feedback, open to new ways of thinking and open to new ways of doing things such as new systems or processes. Having some level of empathy and understanding is also important, and no, that doesn’t make you weak. It is a strength and a quality all companies and leaders should have.?

Why is it important to be a flexible employer?

A study conducted by Seek in the last quarter of 2022 with 9500+ participants showed that above all else employee’s value work life balance (i.e a flexible employer). The information was collected from a diverse group of participants across all main job categories listed on Seek.

• 88% live in a large town
• More than 50% are earning between $50k - $105k
• An age range of 18 – 74 with 50% being between the ages of 25 to 50
• More than 50% are educated at a tertiary level
• Interestingly less than 40% of the participants had children at home.

You can’t argue with the data as it is fairly evenly distributed. As well as valuing work life balance it is a driver for remaining with their current employer and or deciding on a new employer. Second to work life balance is salary and compensation, this is no surprise. However, I can assume you were surprised it wasn’t number one.?

How does this benefit my company?

There are many benefits to being a flexible employer, and I know change can be daunting. If you find yourself thinking?‘How can I attract new talent?’,?‘How can I retain my existing talent?’?and you really want to action that, this is how it starts. You don’t have to go all gung ho and do everything at once, take baby steps. By becoming a flexible employer you will see –

1. Increased rates of productivity = increased probability (I mean that’s the aim right?).
2. Improved employee morale, workplace culture, overall satisfaction and wellbeing.
3. Enhanced company reputation, be the company people are approaching not the other way around.
4. Increased trust amongst management and employees, opening the door to real conversations.
5. Decreased absenteeism.

The now is flexible and the future will be even more flexible!

If you would like to discuss any of this further then contact?Sarah Clark, Director at Define Talent?0413 926 509 [email protected]