The benefits of flexible working: 3 fresh ideas
Photo by Oksana Taran on Unsplash
Flexibility: it’s a workplace theme that’s gained widespread attention and desirability over the past four years in particular. In that time, the word has come to mean different things to different people. But I’d bet a lot of people still think of flexible working as being able to choose when and where you work.
That’s fine as a starting point to support individual choice, but it’s really just the equivalent of touching your toes with knees bent. In other words, the baseline for flexibility, while important, doesn’t really offer the full range of stretch as, say, doing the full splits.
I’d like to offer some fresh thinking about what flexible working is really about - and why it matters. In this article I’ll discuss three key ways to bend your thinking about flexibility, so that we arrive at an evolved view of this critical component of any equitable employee experience design.
If you’re thinking that your view of flexibility is supple enough - and why on earth would you need to do the splits - I challenge you to think about the long-term health of your organization and the people who bring it to life. Just like muscles atrophy without stretching and mobility, so too will your workplace if you don’t build in ways to become more flexible.
3 ideas to bend your thinking about flexible working
Idea 1: Flexibility is a key driver of inclusion and fairness
It may seem obvious that flexible working offers choice to employees about where and when to work. But is that considered inclusion? Depending on the business you’re in, time and location levers of flexibility may be limited to certain employee groups and types. And that’s where it starts to feel more exclusive and less inclusive or fair.
If we rethink flexibility as a driver of inclusion, we start to have different kinds of conversations. Then we can tackle the things like what’s fair, and how to offer everyone the kind of flexibility that works best for them - and the organization.
That leads us to create adult organizations where we trust people to perform because of their individual needs, not in spite of them. Of course there are some situations, like manufacturing plants, where workers don’t have the choice of remote working as a measure of flexibility - but that doesn’t mean they’re not eligible for flexible working. This might take the shape of self-directed shift management or novel approaches to time off. The key is to start the conversation about what flexibility means in your organization - for everyone who works there.
Central to this conversation is the idea that flexibility at work is accessible and equitable for all employees, regardless of their role, level or personal circumstances. Be mindful of potential barriers to flexibility, such as technology limitations, caregiving responsibilities, or cultural norms, and strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels empowered to participate fully and contribute their unique talents and perspectives.
Idea 2: Flexibility builds an outcomes mindset
Decreased productivity is a favorite reason for limited flexibility in some workplaces. The current trend of return to the office is predicated on the idea that people are more productive in person. While there are some benefits of in-person working, like face-to-face relationship building, productivity can actually be enhanced through flexible working. In a HBR survey of Fortune 500 HR leaders, “41% with the most flexible policies said their productivity had generally increased in the past year.”
I think that’s because flexibility is conducive to an outcomes mindset, where we focus on impact rather than process measures such as hours spent. Given choice of working times, place, screen time exposure, breaks and more, people are able to work when they feel most energized and in flow. And that means they’ll be getting more quality work done, not less - and they’ll be happier while they’re at it. As Adam Grant said, “Flexibility doesn’t just facilitate balance. It broadens opportunity.”
So rather than focusing on when and where work is conducted, shift the emphasis to outcomes and results. Encourage employees to focus on achieving goals and meeting deadlines, regardless of the specific hours or location of their work. This approach builds trust and accountability into the culture of the business, allowing employees to manage their time and work in a way that best suits their individual needs and preferences.
Idea 3: Flexibility promotes well-being
That brings me to idea number three. When people have agency over their life design, they have a sense of ownership and empowerment. By creating the conditions for flexibility at work, your employees are able to take charge of their lives and make choices that suit them best - and in doing so, they’ll be better contributors to your organization.
This is where choice really matters. And where employers may find it hardest to stretch. In the traditional way of working, there’s little room for personal choice to design life that includes work. But if we want our people to be healthy in every sense, we must explore different ways of working that give people more options to make better choices around all aspects of well-being.
Deloitte’s flexible work survey of 1,000 US professionals explores the value of workplace flexibility. In this study, “94 percent of respondents say they would benefit from work flexibility, with the top gains being less stress/improved mental health, and better integration of work and personal life.”
Consider flexibility not only in terms of work schedules and locations but also in supporting employees' overall well-being. This includes promoting physical health, mental wellness and work-life balance through initiatives such as flexible wellness programs, mindfulness activities and opportunities for personal development. Recognize that an employee’s well-being is crucial to their ability to perform at their best and thrive in both their professional and personal lives.
Leaders, stretch first!
If we’re going to change how we think about flexible working, leaders need to be willing to stretch the definition of flexibility at work. In addition, if you want to increase your range of motion as a team and feel the full benefits of flexible working, you’ll need to think about ways to become more flexible in the experience you create together.
Here are a few questions you can ask to test how flexible your employee experience is:
How are you being flexible in how you honor the individual needs of your people?
How are you creating flexible opportunities to grow and develop?
Where can you offer more flexibility in how your people use their time?
Where can you offer more flexibility in where we work?
Then, it’s up to you as a leader to model what flexible working could look like - and be open about the benefits and drawbacks so that you can find the right degree of stretch for your organization.
The problem is that many leaders don’t feel prepared to lead a flexible system. That means you’ll need to bring fresh thinking to how you lead and upskill to navigate through a different way of being for yourself and those around you. Deloitte’s work flexibility study shows that people are looking to leaders to advance the culture of flexibility, with fifty-two percent of respondents saying the CEO or management has the greatest impact on advancing flexibility within their organization.
I’m not suggesting that every leader and every organization will benefit from the most supple definition of flexible working (in other words, no structure or guidelines), but I feel that most of us will see the benefit of at least rethinking what flexibility means to us - and then taking action.
How to evolve what flexibility looks like in your organization
At Within People, we believe the future of flexible working starts with an evolved view of the employee experience. To support this, we’ve established a framework with four critical lenses that define an equitable employee experience (EX), that supports our clients to set promises across each. The process involves deep listening at all levels across the business, including the most marginalized, to understand everyone’s perspective of culture and the systems used across the organization.
One of the four lenses of our EX framework is around flexibility. Flexibility is all about truly listening and responding to the needs of the individual. We focus not on just “when” and “where” but “how” teams of individuals work at their best. Listening to the needs of each individual and creating the conditions for flexibility will always be more powerful than creating a blanket policy.
We believe in the rigor and benefit of this process so much that we’ve built our own stretching regimen at Within to honor it. Our core promise to each other in the experience of flexibility is that all needs are heard and integrated to support personal freedom of when, where and how we work. Behind this promise stand key commitments that we make around how we use time, our choice of location, how we leverage our energy and passion and how we balance individual versus business needs.
Similarly, we’ve helped progressive clients such as Amy’s Kitchen, Go Cardless and Stok frame their own version of what this promise looks and feels like for their people and organization.
The key is to acknowledge that flexible working is a core part of creating an equitable employee experience - and like doing the splits, it happens with practice, commitment and determination.
The final stretch
By adopting these fresh perspectives on flexibility at work, leaders can foster a culture of inclusion, impact and well-being that enables employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.
Organizations that commit to enhanced flexibility can create a more equitable employee experience that will increase their employee value proposition and retain the best talent - not to mention building trust, cohesion and adaptability into ways of working.
So, are you ready to stretch?
