Who Has Access to Flex Options?
In the financial services companies questioned, professional-level and non-exempt staff usually have access to the same array of both regular flexible work arrangements (including flextime, telework, compressed workweeks, and part time) and occasional flexibility (shifting work hours on a daily basis or just occasionally, occasional work at home, and time-off in part-day increments).
Telework, in particular, is not feasible for certain positions. Usage is typically higher in administrative and logistical functions than it is in retail branch banking or on the revenue side in investment banks.
Some innovative uses of flexibility include:
- Compressed workweeks and voluntary part time to expand coverage,
- Enabling professionals with long hours to have one-half day per month to take care of personal matters,
- Remote work to attract key talent from other geographic areas, and
- Telework and open space work environments to reduce real estate costs.
Impacts of Flex
Companies’ process measures, financial analyses, employee surveys, and HRIS metrics indicate that workplace flexibility has positive impacts on recruitment, retention, and engagement, and neutral or positive impacts on productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction.
Impacts include:
- Improved productivity from
- Increased focus and efficiency
- Expanded coverage
- Time saved on commuting
- Higher employee engagement and satisfaction
- Recruitment success
- Lower turnover
- Favorable financial return on investment in IT and real estate reconfiguration
- Positive effects on green metrics of
- Paper consumption
- Gas consumption
- Traffic congestion
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Success Factors for Implementation
Companies participating in the focus groups have found that successful implementation of flexibility in financial services firms depends on:
- Leadership support in words and action
- Manager training
- Having the right technology and tools
- Maintaining a results orientation
- Openness to new ways of working
- Measurement and linkage to business metrics
- Ongoing support and coaching from HR
- Communication
- Alignment with business objectives
What Challenges Arise?
The report mentions several universal challenges that financial organizations face in implementing flex policies:
- Managers’ attitudes. Without adequate training and tools, concerns about performance management and loss of control persist.
- Highly regulated nature of the industry. This necessitates a high level of technology infrastructure to support remote work or telework.
- Trading floor. The nature of work on the trading floor means that certain types of flexibility may not be possible.
- Advancement. Employees and managers question whether using flexibility may jeopardize advancement opportunities or job security.
Implementing flextime: just one more daily challenge for comp managers. “Maintain internal equity and external competitiveness and control turnover, but still meet management’s demands for lowered costs.” Heard that one before?
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