Achieve Success with Flexible Working
The nature of working continues to evolve and in order to keep up; your company must move on from the traditional method of working. There’s a new and beautiful concept called flexible working, which many large companies are currently implementing. The pros of flexible working are speed, adaptability and more. Most businesses have already equipped their office with a design that caters to flexibility as it allows for greater mutability, thus enabling faster adaptation to new challenges. To remain competitive your business must adopt agility through flexible working to improve performance of staff and save on investment.
There are several ways this new style of working can be beneficial to your employees and your business, this can range from retaining staff to reducing costs of commuting to and from the office. Ultimately, flexible working will enable your company to tackle new and difficult challenges efficiently.
How does one keep a company flexible and agile? The first place to look should be your office layout. Does your company have a responsive workplace design? Ask your employees if they’re happy with the space they work in, if not then why not? What can be improved? Do they have the option to work where they want and how they want? If your answer is no, then your staff could very well be underperforming and unmotivated. People work best when they are empowered to work in their own way. This is a key point with flexible working and is valued by most workers today. The next generation (generation Z) entering the workforce will have grown up with a ‘24/7, anywhere and anytime’ mentality of work. Having flexible options on when, how and where to work will be paramount to them.
The ability to balance work and home life has been in huge demand by workers. By providing this freedom, companies will be able to increase the quality of life for their employees, thus reducing stress levels at work and achieving a higher level of job satisfaction. It doesn’t end with freedom on where and how employees work. There are countless businesses that promise complete autonomy at work, but still lock down work computers to prevent personalisation, settings changes and the use of personal devices. Doing this can demotivate staff; have a negative impact on employees feeling valued by the company and generally decrease wellbeing. Consequently, all of this can lead to absenteeism and an overall drop in business performance.
Take a look at some of the best companies out there, they attract and retain the top talents in the industry because they know that true, limitless productivity comes from employees who are empowered, challenged and rewarded. Making sure your workers feel included in every step of the project right through to succession will allow your team to feel valued, thus increasing their loyalty. For smaller companies flexible working may be harder to implement, as missing key members of staff can mean slower progress on company projects. Due to this, leaders of smaller businesses may not feel confident in letting staff work from home and be reluctant to fully embrace flexible working. Assessing how your team works and building a company culture around this can be a good middle ground, often the only thing needed for managers to embrace this way of working is trust that their staff members will get the work done.
With so much technology available to us there’s really very little excuse to not give flexible working a chance. There are several ways your team can stay connected even when they’re working from home or somewhere that isn’t the office; video calling, screen share and cloud technology will make it as if they’re right there with you. This will tackle the fear that most small business owners have that when employees work from home; they’re actually doing something else entirely. In most small business settings, it’s safe to say that the staff work together through a familiar “family bond” relationship. Each member of the team is motivated and dedicated to the company and they don’t want to let their colleagues down, so they will do their part regardless of where they are working from.
“The right staff work better if they are allowed some freedom in projects and are empowered to make decisions, under the umbrella of the company strategy. This requires trust, but that trust is rewarded” – Steve Lindsey, CEO – LONTRA
It is still important that your team hold regular meetings, especially if you are a small business that has embraced flexible working. This will allow each member to keep up-to-date with what has been done and what needs doing, where the project is and which direction it is headed. It may all seem so daunting at first, but getting out of the mind-set that flexible working is a threat, and rather an opportunity for both the employer and staff will allow you to see how successful this way of working really is.
Category: Business
