“Flexibility is a business imperative,” says consultant Diane Burrus. It’s not “nice-to-have,” it’s a results-based business strategy.’ Her practical tips in today’s Advisor.
At World at Work’s Total Rewards conference held recently in San Diego, sessions on flextime were eagerly attended. Burrus shared her tips for developing a flex program that supports the business while at the same time pleases employees.
Burrus is the Workplace Flexibility Practice Leader at Waltham, Mass.-based WFD Consulting. She offers six stages of the Flexibility Spectrum. Where does your organization fall?
No Current Use Of Flexibility
- No flexible work options currently being used.
Individual Accommodations
- Special arrangements or “deals” granted on a case-by-case basis and often kept secret.
Policies &Programs in Place
- Policies & programs exist but flexibility is used only in “pockets” across the organization.
Flexibility Has Many Faces
- Widespread use of formal and informal flexibility to meet organization and individual needs.
New Ways of Working
- A results driven culture where flexible work practices are utilized as a management strategy to achieve business results.
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Formal or Informal?
Flex programs can be thought of as formal or informal, Burrus notes.
Informal
- Occasional, day-to-day flexibility (soccer game, work at home on a project)
- Individuals and teams work in ways and locations that meet changing business, customer, and personal needs
Formal
- Individual on-going Flexible Work Arrangements
- Longer-term, changes in schedule and/or location of work
What Drives the Desire for Flex?
Burrus outlines several factors that make it easier to offer flex.
- Dispersed workforce
- Results-driven culture
- Anytime/anyplace operations
- No time/space boundaries
- Agile, efficient work practices and processes
- HR, IT and Real Estate alignment
- Connectedness and connectivity
Flexibility is a Business Imperative
Burrus offers the following advantages for businesses that offer flexibility. She says that flex programs:
- Offer a competitive Talent Management Strategy to drive business success by creating a flexible, results-driven culture
- Help to attract, retain and motivate the workforce to accomplish the goals and vision of the organization
- Increase loyalty and engagement and fuels productivity by building a high performance culture
- Give employees more control over their work which helps them better manage their work and personal lives
What Are the Typical Flex Offerings?
Burrus outlines six typical flexible work options that more organizations can consider:
- FlexTime: Typically, this involves flexibility in the starting and ending time of the work day. Organizations often specify core hours when everyone is expected to be in the office, for example, 10 am to 3pm. Some employees will work 7 to 3 and others 10 to 6. Often this works to the advantage of the employer, for example, to keep customer service available for calls from the opposite coast.
- Part Time: Individuals work less than a full-time job
- JobSharing: Two or more individuals share one job.
- Compressed Work Week: (for example, working 4 10-hours days instead of 5 8-hour days)
- Tele Work: Teleworkers work at home on a regular basis, but are not full-time at home; they spend some time in the office.
- Remote Work: Remote workers work remotely full-time.
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What Flexibility Is and Is Not
Flexibility Is…
- A strategic business tool to recruit, engage and retain the best people
- and maximize their productivity
- A way to meet employee, customer and business needs
- Utilizing a fair consistent and collaborative decision-making process
- A shared responsibility
- Based on open, honest communication
- Effective when we measure results rather than activities or face time
Flexibility Is Not…
- Giving up management discretion
- A “benefit” or entitlement
- Treating all flexibility requests the same
- Showing favoritism or giving preferential treatment
- An excuse to “slack off”
- Absence in disguise
- Lowering quality, productivity or customer service standards
- Never being in the office
In tomorrow’s Advisor, “How I Sold Management on Flex,” plus an introduction to a surprisingly effective 10-minutes-at-a-time training system for your supervisors and managers.