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It wasn’t so long ago that flexible working was considered a perk. Today, it’s a competitive necessity that can lead to better employee retention, morale, and productivity.
In other words, it can be a game-changer, both for employers and employees. Today, some 67% of businesses offer flexible working, which makes an excellent time for businesses that are considering it themselves to make the leap.
Happily, while it does involve a bit of an adjustment period, switching to a flexible working model is easier to achieve than you might expect. In this post, we’ll run through some of the key steps that will push you towards success.
Set Your Terms
The key part of the term ‘flexible working’ is flexible. It’s not a complete free for all in which employers can work whenever and wherever they want. Before you initiate flexible working, you’ll need to think about your terms. For example, many businesses set core hours, such as 11 am – 3 pm, in which employees must be available. It’s also important to establish a few ground rules, such as expected response times. By setting your terms, you can help avoid a big percentage of the early teething problems that businesses typically encounter when initiating flexible working.
Managing Access
Flexible working allows employees to work at their preferred hours, be it at 7 am or 7 pm. Putting in infrastructure that allows employees to access the building as and when they want, without sacrificing site security, is key to flexible working success. An access control solution provides employees with secure access to the office round-the-clock, without having to hire additional personnel to manage the site. Integrating an access control system into your workplace can also provide valuable data about how your employees use the office, such as when the space is at its busiest and emptiest.
Invest in Technology — and Select an Anchor Day
If you’re allowing your staff to work from home as part of your flexible working arrangement, then investing in the right software tools is key to driving success. A shared team calendar can help to demystify who is working and where, while tools like Slack and Teams can help replicate the watercooler chat that helps to drive collaboration and team-bonding.
With that said, it’s important to keep in mind that technology can’t reproduce every element of the in-office experience. Many businesses opt to have an anchor day as part of their flexible working setup, which is a day on which it’s mandatory for employees to be in the office. This day — let’s say Wednesday — helps to preserve face-to-face contact and can go a long way towards keeping teams on the same page.
Start, Monitor, Adapt
Moving to a flexible working arrangement can be highly beneficial to both employers and employees, but the journey to reach that point isn’t always as smooth as you’d like it to be. Most businesses find that they need to make a few adjustments to their flexible working arrangements before they land on the system that works best for them.
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