The Benefits of Workplace Flexibility
Discussing how much flexibility to offer employees has become a popular topic of late. Whether to allow employees to work from home full time and even choose their hours and days worked is something many companies are now considering.
If you’re still unsure about the advantages and disadvantages of workplace flexibility, this article covers the primary pros and cons. We also offer some solutions to common problems that may occur when offering flexibility.
To learn more about the benefits of workplace flexibility, plus some top tips for resolving issues that could arise, read on!
What is Workplace Flexibility?
Workplace, or employee, flexibility refers to allowing employees to choose the best working conditions for them. The primary ways to offer workplace flexibility are by letting employees determine their:
Work schedule (primarily the hours they’ll keep, 9 to 5, 10 to 6, etc.)
Place of work
Days worked
You can also offer flexibility relating to tasks employees handle. A generally flat hierarchy structure allows for this, letting employees focus on core tasks while also taking on additional responsibilities.
Workplace flexibility involves allowing employees to choose their schedule and whether to work remotely or in-office.
The Benefits of Flexibility in the Workplace
So, why is flexibility important in the workplace? You’ll find a variety of advantages relating to offering employee flexibility, from improved productivity to reduced turnover rates and being more appealing to recruitment candidates.
The following are the primary benefits of workplace flexibility for both employees and employers.
1. Improved Productivity
Many employees report that they feel more productive when working in a flexible environment, especially when they can work from home. A high percentage of employers also note that they see employee productivity rise when they give their staff flexibility regarding their hours and where they work.
Do Flexible Work Hours Improve Employee Productivity?
The positive impact of flexible working hours on productivity was made evident after the majority of office workers moved to remote working during the pandemic. While employers worried at first that productivity would drop, most were surprised to see the opposite occur.
Offering flexible workday start and end times is one of the best ways to boost productivity. All employees work differently and feel productive at different times. For some, 9 to 5 is perfect. Others may prefer an earlier start and end time, such as 7 to 3, or a later schedule, like 10 to 6.
When you consider these differences in your staff, it becomes clear that fitting all employees into one schedule won’t allow everyone to give their best.
Additionally, many employees report having fewer distractions when working from home. Contrary to the common thought that working at home will cause distractions, being in-office may come with more distractions that result in employees losing focus.
In the office, it's easy to stop people working to ask questions or get caught up in chatting in shared spaces, such as in the kitchen or at the copy machine, while in a shared office space. At home, employees can completely focus on themselves and create the ideal work environment.
Assessing Employee Productivity When Offered Flexibility
Ultimately, when assessing employee productivity, keep KPIs in mind. If your staff are getting all their work done, meeting targets, and can collaborate effectively, it shouldn’t matter where they work from or what hours they keep.
When offering flexible arrangements, stay on top of workloads and ensure KPIs are met (without micromanaging!) This tactic is the easiest way to see if flexibility is working for your team or if the reimplementation of a more rigid schedule could be beneficial to your team.
Studies suggest that once flexibility is introduced, you’ll be more than happy with the results your employees bring!
2. Reduced Costs for Employees
One of the most appealing benefits of a flexible workplace for employees is the cost savings this model brings. For example, working at home can reduce commuting costs for employees, plus other expenses, like needing to buy lunch when in the office.
Additionally, flexible schedules that allow staff to work hours other than the standard 9 to 5 may see cost savings relating to public transport because employees can benefit from off-peak instead of peak time fares.
Working at home and/or being able to create flexible schedules can notably reduce costs for parents as well. For example, they can eliminate or lessen the need for paid daycare or after-school care services.
3. More Free Time
Working at home means that commuting time is saved, giving employees more free time to pursue their hobbies and interests. Even flexible in-office hours can mean peak commuter times are avoided, as mentioned above, which makes journeys quicker and more pleasant.
Removing commutes or making them less stressful can reduce fatigue throughout the workday as well, especially if employees were traveling an hour or more in the mornings. Employees are less likely to be late when working from home too!
Employees that can work from home and choose their own hours are often more productive.
4. Improved Employee Morale
Offering employees flexibility will likely improve morale as well. The above factors of employees being more productive, having more free time, and saving money when given flexibility contribute to reduced stress levels and result in more satisfied and engaged staff. Happy employees are often more loyal to the company too.
Conversely, the act of simply not offering flexibility can reduce morale alone. For example, if you require employees to return to the office after working from home during the pandemic, this move may cause resentment. This dissatisfaction is especially likely if other companies in the same industry allow employees to continue working remotely. This resentment can lead to reduced engagement and employee satisfaction levels and may ultimately result in staff leaving the company.
On the other hand, by offering a high amount of employee flexibility, you can position yourself as an employer of choice and reduce turnover rate.
5. Lower Turnover Rates
As just discussed, one of the primary benefits of workplace flexibility is increased employee morale. Generally, satisfied employees are less likely to consider changing jobs. Therefore, offering flexibility can increase your retention rate and reduce employee turnover.
Do Flexible Work Practices Reduce Employee Turnover?
While workplace flexibility on a mass scale is a newer concept, with the pandemic being a primary driver of the trend, studies conducted so far suggest that flexible work practices do reduce employee turnover.
Now that returning to offices is an option, businesses must choose between a full-time in-office, full-time remote, or hybrid model. Decisions reducing flexibility, like demanding everyone return to the office, will likely see employees looking for new opportunities and your turnover rate going up.
6. A More Attractive Employer Brand
More and more employees are looking for jobs that offer flexibility. Many are even looking for new positions due to leaving companies that don’t provide this desired flexibility.
By offering workplace flexibility, you increase the pool of candidates interested in working for you and present a more desirable employer brand. On the other hand, not offering flexibility will likely cause you to miss out on the market’s best candidates.
7. Reduced Costs for Employers
Moving to a remote model will eliminate the cost of an office space and related maintenance costs (whether the space is owned or leased.) Even if you provide some budget to employees for work-from-home expenses, overall company costs should drop when eliminating a physical office space.
Increased morale and lower turnover rates are just some of the benefits of workplace flexibility.
The Disadvantages of Workplace Flexibility (Plus Solutions to Fix These Issues!)
Of course, some difficulties come with providing a high level of employee flexibility. The challenges of flexible work arrangements can affect both employees and employers.
Before you commit to offering employee flexibility, keep the following potential negative effects in mind. Luckily, while these issues can occur, most are easy to remedy while still allowing flexibility and meeting the needs of your whole team.
Issues That Can Be Encountered When Working from Home
1. A loss of work-life-balance and working outside of normal work hours
While some employees report better work-life balance after working remotely, others see the opposite occurring. It can be more challenging to turn off from work when you work in your living space. Many also end up working overtime and have difficulty calling it a day. These factors can ultimately lead to burnout.
Solution: Thankfully, there are many things you can do to prevent employee burnout while working from home. These tactics include limiting approval of overtime requests and actively encouraging employees to end their workday when they should and take time for themselves.
2. More Distractions
As discussed, numerous employees report fewer distractions while working from home. However, others may face more distractions than when in the office. The latter is especially true for employees working with other individuals in the house, like a partner, children, or roommates.
Solution: Encourage employees to let you know if they’re dealing with distractions at home or having difficulty focusing. You can then offer suggestions on how to stay motivated when working from home, like working in twenty-minute bursts with a short break in between.
If you know employees are working at home with children, be understanding and offer flexibility throughout the day as needed. For example, if an employee needs to unexpectedly take an hour off to care for their child, approve requests to make up the time later in the day or another day.
3. Inadequate Working Space
A benefit of an office is that every employee should have adequate work equipment, like an ergonomic desk setup and all the technology they need. This is not necessarily the case when working from home.
Many individuals also will not have a space that they can dedicate only for working, for example, a spare room to turn into an office. These issues may affect younger employees more as they are more likely to live in shared accommodation or one-bed or studio apartments.
Solution: Employers can try their best to remedy these issues by providing work-at-home equipment or a one-time bonus for employees to buy office furniture and other necessary equipment. Managers can also offer tips on how employees can best optimize their living space for remote working.
4. Issues with Communication Can Occur
It’s not always as easy to communicate and get questions answered when you aren't in the office with co-workers. This issue can lead to projects taking longer to complete as employees are waiting for questions to be answered or feedback to be given to continue moving forward with the task at hand.
Solution: To make out-of-office communication more efficient, ensure a workplace messaging system, like Slack, is in place. It can also be a good idea to dedicate certain channels to certain types of questions. For example, ask quick questions on a messaging app and more complicated questions via email or call.
5. Isolation and a Lack of Team Bonding
You may find that team bonds weaken when employees work remotely and/or with varying schedules. This potential loss of relationships is especially a concern if you have new team members that have never met the entire team in an office environment. You may even see new employees being less loyal to the company due to not building in-person bonds.
Solution: These issues can be remedied by initiating remote team bonding via events and activities, whether in-person, virtually, or a combination of the two. If you have the budget for it, team retreats can be a great relationship-building tool as well.
Even when working remotely, encourage team collaboration when working on projects, idea generation, and the like, as this will also strengthen relationships.
Remote team bonding activities can reduce feelings of isolation that may occur when working from home.
Issues That Can Be Encountered by Offering Flexible Schedules
If your staff have different schedules (different days worked and/or times worked), it can be challenging to coordinate meetings and team bonding events, like an end-of-week happy hour.
Employees may also be waiting a long time to get answers to questions or the go-ahead to move on to a new task. This problem can delay progress and the meeting of deadlines. It can also affect employee motivation.
As with having a team that’s half in the office and half at home, cliques could form between teams that work different schedules, and certain groups could miss out on opportunities.
Solution: Ensure that the team is aware of the days and hours each staff member keeps. Also, encourage employees to think about what they need to get approved or ask co-workers before certain team members involved time off. However, make it clear to everyone that they shouldn’t be answering messages outside of their work hours, no matter how important it is.
You should also plan group meetings for when everyone is in the office, plus team bonding events to avoid clique-type groups forming.
Employer Issues with Offering Employee Flexibility
1. Workspace Inefficiencies
Many businesses recognize that a hybrid model is a good way to go when determining whether to return to the office or stay remote. A hybrid setup can keep all current employees happy and will appeal to all recruits (those that only want to work at home or in the office and those that want the option of both.)
However, there are issues with hybrid models to consider. A primary negative factor is that the business will be paying for an office space that may not get used frequently. Choosing the right size office space can be an issue as well and may lead to you paying for a space that has lots of empty desks throughout the work week or a space that isn’t big enough.
If you also have to give credits to at-home staff, for example, to cover utilities during the workday, you could end up spending much more than if you choose just one option (everyone in-office or everyone remote.)
A hybrid model can cause a split in the team as well. You may even see “cliques” forming between in-office workers and work-from-home staff.
Solution: Firstly, discuss where your team wants to work. If most favor one option, in-office or remote, then go with that model at least for the time being. If hybrid is the most popular choice, get a sense of how often employees will want to be in the office to determine the size of space you need.
You can also put limits on the number of people in the office at once, and staff must “book” to come in. This tactic can avoid you ending up with too much or too little office space.
In terms of the best option to attract potential employees, keep an eye on the employment market and what your competitors are doing to determine if it could be beneficial to alter your workspaces.
2. Salary Issues
A discussion about how companies going remote will affect salaries has become prevalent since the move to remote and hybrid working.
If employers have a hybrid model and work-at-home staff can work from anywhere, should their salary be reduced to match the cost of living in their new city of residence? Especially if the place they’ve moved to has a significantly lower cost of living than your HQ city has?
This question is especially crucial to consider if some of your staff are required to work in person, and others get the choice to work in-office or remotely.
Solution: There are a lot of factors concerning the appropriate answer to this issue. Ultimately, you should do what you feel is fairest to all involved parties.
If you have some staff that must work in person, while others get the choice, introducing a change in salary for remote workers that relocate to a city with a lower cost of living could be the most appropriate action.
Remember, that whatever salary model you decide on, you must be able to justify it to all parties involved. Also, ensure that any salary policies you put in place are legal and don’t comprise existing contracts.
In Summary
If you’ve been unsure about whether to offer your employees flexibility, the benefits of workplace flexibility discussed in this article should have convinced you that employee flexibility is something to be embraced. While some issues can occur, especially when you first move to flexible working, they can all be easily resolved to ensure the needs of every staff member are met.