You might be hearing a lot about providing flexibility to employees across different industries. Flexibility in work is becoming wildly popular because it helps boost productivity through solutions carefully curated to employees. Flexibility helps workers feel more valued, as it offers a variety of options tailored to their convenience.

Though flexibility may look challenging to achieve, it mainly is not the case. Creating job flexibility in every type of industry can be done by redesigning company policies. Due to the multitude of benefits that a flexible working environment offers employees and employers, they are indicative of a massive change for the better.

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Are you wondering what flexible work is and how to achieve it? Then you’ve come to the right place. Here we touch points on how to create a flexible workforce without sacrificing your company's needs and requirements.

What is flexibility at work?Why is a Flexible Workforce Important for the Future?How to get a Flexible Workforce?Summary

What is flexibility at work?

Wondering what defines flexibility? Flexibility at work refers to a company's ability to deal with unforeseeable situations. It refers to a company's ability to efficiently come up with flexible solutions to situations that arise. An employee who is flexible can amend goals and plans to overcome or navigate through unexpected problems.

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One way the management of a company can encourage flexwork is by letting employees decide how they would like to work. Nowadays, employees can choose where they want to work and have more control over their own work schedule. Introducing flexibility into the employee workplace is not only beneficial for employees, but helps companies retain them, as well as getting impressive performance levels out of them.

Why is a Flexible Workforce Important for the Future?

Employers are adopting flexible working environments for a number of reasons. However, the most common one is the likelihood of company growth and the benefits that come along with it.

Here are several reasons why flexible work is important for the future:

Increased Productivity

Each and every company is interested in boosting productivity and getting the best performance out of their employees. However, each employee has their own personal needs and requirements. Many people focus better in the evening, while others are most productive in the morning. Some people simply prefer working during the night time to avoid getting up early. Since each individual has different peak productivity hours, it's difficult to get 100% productivity from everyone while placing them in the same environment and circumstances.

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Due to the pandemic, companies have learned that people are more productive when working from home. When employees are given the choice of when to concentrate on their work, they tend to deliver better results. In order to be successful and compete with top league companies, you need to design a flexible environment that supports every type of worker in your company.

Retain Employees

If you are an HR representative of an organization, you might know how quickly people come and go. Often, they leave for problems that are not at all unresolvable. For instance, many women leave only because their working hours don't suit the schedule of their children. Some leave because they don't want to work a night shift. Although it's challenging to stop employees from leaving for better opportunities, you can retain workers who leave due to redundant problems such as travel concerns or difficulty managing their work schedule.

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Employees are more likely to stay with a company with work flexibility, since they can choose where and when they want to work. If parents can design their own working hours around their children's schedules, and early birds can choose to do their work in the morning, it’s a win-win situation. A company willing to go this far for their employees shows a noticeable amount of care, which can too make them more willing to stay. Retaining your employees means you don't have to worry about training a new employee. This saves time, energy, and money.

Fewer Complaints

When a company empathises with their employees, they think twice before making complaints in return. Providing a flexible environment keeps workers satisfied. They feel content with the work relationship and try to solve problems on their own before escalating further. On top of that, many employees will not be working on actual office premises, limiting the possibility of complaints regarding the company's office environment.

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If you provide your employees with a flexible work environment, they will be more proactive when deciding on a solution with you. You stand a greater chance in convincing them of your decisions.

No Burnout

Companies have been trying to minimize the likelihood of burnout in the workforce or develop ways for people to recover from it effectively for decades. Many employees faced with this issue switch to companies with a lighter workload, even if they pay less. However, if you provide a flexible working environment, instances of burnout reduce significantly. A flexible working environment promotes positive helps employees sleep better.

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By allowing employees to find a meaningful work-life balance, you help them deal with their significant workload on their own time. Not only is limiting the possibility of burnout for your employees important, but it also offers higher productivity. A person in good health with an active, fresh mind and good mood can provide quality work. On the other hand, burnout prevents most people from giving their 100% because they feel weak, tired, and sluggish all the time.

Work-Life Balance

You may have heard that a person stressed about their personal life will struggle to deliver. If you’re constantly thinking about personal problems and issues, how can you give full focus to your work? A flexible environment allows people to find balance. They can work whenever, wherever, and however they want, allowing them to have a better work-life balance.

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Having a work-life balance offers peace of mind. Employees don't have to worry about their family or friends when they know that they can talk to them, stay with them, or reach out to them at any time.

Lastly, it prevents employees from potentially ruining their relationships. Many parents don't have time for their children due to work, which makes them unavailable for times when their children might need them. Similarly, when one partner is busy, the other one can easily feel ignored and less valued, leading to problems down the line. Flexi working is important for the mental health of employees.

Saves Money

Flexibility can save a lot of money by avoiding the costs normally spent on equipment and accessories standardly provided for in-house workers. If everyone works from home, expensive office rent costs are evaded and facilities like quality AC, an office kitchen, and other essentials need not be provided.

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Companies that provide allowances for transport, food, and other essentials no longer need to contribute, as workers no longer need these things. High utility bills become obsolete.

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How to get a Flexible Workforce?

There are several ways to develop flexibility at work. Some of the easiest and most practiced techniques are introduced below.

Choose the Option that Works for You

Although flexibility implies providing freedom at some level to workers, it doesn't mean you necessarily need to fully restructure. There are several approaches to flexibility to choose from, based on your company's needs and requirements.

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Some types of flexible work structures are:

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Flextime

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As the name implies, this model allows employees to choose their working hours throughout the week. This gives them the opportunity to decide when, where, and how long they want to work from home.

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A Compressed Work Week

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In this case, your workforce works fewer working days, but completes the working hours of a full week. For instance, if someone works 10-hour shifts on 5 days, they can opt for longer work hours, say 12 hours, on 4 days a week instead. This way, the total working hours will stay the same, but the amount of workdays is reduced.

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Remote Work

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Remote work is the best flexible option an employee can have. It allows employees to work from a location of their choice. However, it's up to the company to let employees choose what days they'll be working from home or set specific days when remote work is permitted.

Understanding Your Team and Work

Not all work can be done from home. And not every team can work without supervision or with flexible hours across different locations. It’s important to understand the nature of the work your team does. If the company operates in a way where stringent deadlines need to be met, providing flexibility to employees becomes more challenging. Even if you decide to do so, make sure it doesn't go so far as to hinder operations.

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As for teams, there are instances where supervision of all employees is needed. This can be due to the nature of the work, or perhaps when dealing with employees who are less skilled. For instance, if you run a call center, the floor manager might have to intervene if customers aren't satisfied with the customer representative. This is only feasible if everyone is working from the same location.

Train Your Staff

Before allowing staff to start working from home or providing them with a flexible environment, they should be trained. Without any in-person supervision, teams may not take you seriously. As a result, you might struggle to manage a large team and important deadlines may be missed.

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It's important that employees understand why the flexibility to work remotely is offered. Train them to manage their work from home. Discuss what techniques they can implement to get work done more efficiently. If you have the resources, invite experts to organise a training session. These experts use effective explanations to demonstrate to employees how they can maintain a work-life balance by themselves.

Create Policies

Once you understand your team and how it operates, it's time to implement policies. Though many employees believe that laws and regulations are built to restrict, that's simply not true. Rather, policies help employees and employers stay on the same page. When you create rigid policies regarding flexible work arrangements, your employees have no option but to follow them.

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Creating thoughtful and well-structured policies can help boost productivity and increase the company's success rate. It provides limitations to employees so that they know where you've drawn the line. Once you create policies, make sure that they are available for employees to access and read. Additionally, ask all employees to check the new company policy to avoid confusion later on.

Test the Model

Now that you have a proper plan, policies, and trained staff, it's time to test the model. By testing the model, you can find out where to make amendments. When implementing a flexible work environment model, it’s a good idea to tell employees that you're testing it out and that if the model fails, they will have to return to the previous model of work.

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You can test a new model on a small group of employees to see how they do. Then, based on the results of the pilot test, look over your plan and make necessary tweaks and changes.

Train Your Managers

Make sure to train managers so they can regulate operations properly. It's important that they understand how to manage each employee when working from different locations, at different times. Make sure they understand your policy to better enforce it among employees.

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Organise a training session for managers before introducing a model to ensure that the management is on the same page. Before they can discuss the new policy with employees, they should be well-versed in it and able to answer questions. Don’t forget to ask your managers for input and suggestions as a way to gain their trust. If they make valuable points, make sure to implement them.

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Summary

With a full picture of workplace flexibility, it becomes immediately apparent why this is the future of the employment industry. A flexible workforce may only seem beneficial to workers to start with, but it does wonders for the company as a whole.

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A well-designed and flexible plan can help a company succeed and achieve its goals. A flexible workplace means higher productivity and satisfied employees. Costs on things such as office supplies and rent are saved simply by allowing employees to work remotely. In conclusion, if your business is aiming to keep up with industry standards, a flexible work environment should be next up on your list of milestones.

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