Workplace flexibility allows employers and employees to make working arrangements that suit them. This helps employees maintain a healthy work-life balance and helps employers improve the productivity and efficiency of their business. Businesses that enforce a rigid and unyielding workspace decrease their chances of hiring top talent.
Exceptional leaders understand that talent is the single most important factor in a company’s success. Without the right talent, your company will be stationary. To attract and retain great employees, leaders and HR teams should work with employees and help them customise their jobs. Ultimately, this will make people feel valued, which will lead to peak performance. The solution is to be flexible and collaborative with hours, holidays and location.
Workplace flexibility is when an employee and an employer make changes to when, where and how a person will work. Flexibility enables both individual and business needs to be met by making changes to the time, location and manner in which an employee works. It is important that flexibility is mutually beneficial to result in better outcomes.
If your employees do not need to be in the office, your talent is suddenly global. You can build productive relationships with talent across the country or even worldwide. Distance is becoming increasingly irrelevant with the increased use of social networks, project-specific groups and teleconferencing. Businesses that promote hybrid and remote working are the workplaces of the future.
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When you work with people to customise their work-life balance, you should not impose anything on them. This shows you are treating them with respect and trust, which will be returned. When an employee chooses to work from home for three days of the week, this exhibits a huge commitment to the business. Instead of working for you, they are working with you. This builds a lot of trust and respect, along with improving your company culture.
Recent studies show that organisations that offer workplace flexibility have less absence and turnover with higher levels of engagement and productivity. This comes down to control. We all need to feel control of our lives and by working with your employees on flexibility, you grant them real control. They feel trusted and valued and their investment in the work and the business will grow.
Many businesses today view workplace flexibility as a strategic move rather than an employee benefit. The more progressive and innovative your company is, the easier it will be to attract and retain employees. Those with a lot to offer want to work within a company that treats them like adults and has an empathetic, energetic and progressive culture.
The rise in telecommuting means that companies can save costs on supplies, real estate and utilities. Telecommuters can work anytime and anywhere as long as the work required gets completed.
Truly engaged employees don’t leave their jobs behind when they’re off the clock. They carry their current projects with them and are always open to new inspiration or insight. Employees who are telecommuting or working on schedules that they helped design, means these workers are out in the world more, open to input and away from the office environment where stagnation can set in. An employee with a well-rounded, active lifestyle will bring implemented core values to any job and find new inspiration.
Telecommuting can be a challenge for managers. They can’t just approach someone in person to discuss an issue. Balancing schedules and workloads can also be complicated if you are managing telecommuters, although the results are worthwhile.
Workplace flexibility is a great leadership tool, and it is essential to make sure you are using it to its full potential.
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