You may access the website here: http://www.dol.gov/odep/workplaceflexibility/
How Does Your Organization Rate?
Where does your organization sit on the “flex spectrum”? This Corporate Voices for Working Families graphic helps you see where you stand:
The Flexibility Spectrum
| No Current Use of Flexibility |
No flexible work options currently being used |
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Individual Accommodations |
Special arrangements or “deals” granted on a case-by-case basis and often kept secret |
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Policies and Programs in Place |
Policies and programs exist but flexibility is used only in “pockets” across the organization |
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Flexibility Has Many Faces |
Widespread use of formal and informal flexibility to meet organization and individual needs |
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New Ways of |
A results-driven culture where flexible work practices are utilized as a management strategy to achieve business results |
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One of the interesting things on the site is a collection of studies that the U.S. DOL’s Women’s Bureau, in conjunction with Corporate Voices for Working Families, WFD Consulting, WorldatWork, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Twiga Foundation, conducted. They established focus groups with employers in certain industries to understand their experiences and results with implementing flexibility.
For example, the researchers contacted five financial services firms in the New York tri-state area concerning the business drivers, practices, business impacts, critical success factors, and challenges of implementing flexibility.
Where Were the Five Firms on the Flexibility Spectrum?
Financial services firms in the study represented the full range of progress along the flexibility spectrum. In some of the companies, employees have very little access to flexibility. In others, individual arrangements exist without a formal policy in place, or without open communication, or where flexibility is supported in some departments or functions but not in others.
In some other companies, employees have access to a broader array of options. Some firms have incorporated flexibility into their business strategy to create a results-driven culture where managers and teams are encouraged to develop innovative flexibility solutions.
What are the Business Drivers?
Financial services firms are motivated to implement flexible work practices for a variety of reasons:
- Improve the recruitment and retention of talent.
- Boost morale and engagement.
- Increase profitability.
- Respond to the needs of a global business.
In the aftermath of September 11, financial services employers implemented technology, systems, and training to enable teleworking to ensure business continuity in unexpected disaster situations. Over time, telework has been incorporated into normal business operations.
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Real estate costs have motivated several firms to implement telework and to redesign workspaces with open workspaces, hotdesks, and huddle rooms, with fewer individually-assigned workspaces.
The companies also found that flexibility is an effective recruitment tool to attract younger employees who desire greater flexibility, to recruit remote workers from a wider geographic talent pool and to compete as an “Employer of Choice.”
Flexibility is also an important and successful retention tool for women who need to manage family responsibilities and mature workers trying to meet retirement goals.
The firms’ internal surveys demonstrate the linkage between flexibility and higher employee engagement, which they believe translates into increased productivity and better customer service.
Companies are also adopting flexible work cultures to be more inclusive and more responsive to the needs of customers and employees and to meet the demands of the global economy.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, more on flexibility plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one website, HR.BLR.com.