Rigid hours, mandatory office attendance, fixed vacation periods. These and other features of the traditional work model have been crumbling for a long time, proving they are not the only viable options for efficient, productive work.
With Generations Y and Z entering the job market, the demand for flexibility at work is becoming more common and, even when it is silent and shows up as a lack of commitment, it has been making noise inside companies.
A recent survey by Brazil’s National Confederation of Industry (CNI) found that seven out of ten Brazilians would like to have flexible working hours. The report, which interviewed 2,002 people in 140 Brazilian municipalities, shows that 38% of formally employed workers have flexible start and finish times. Among those who work informally, this figure rises to 76%.
Working from home or from alternative locations is the wish of 73% of respondents. In addition, 53% would like to split their vacation into more periods, 58% would like a shorter lunch break so they can leave earlier, 63% would like to work longer days in exchange for days off during the week, and 62% would like to receive their transportation allowance in cash.
But is this where every company is heading? Is it worth investing in flexible hours and the option of working from home for everyone? Perhaps it is, and you will see why.
Why adopt a flexible work model
A survey by consulting firm Bain & Company of 3,300 professionals showed that adopting flexibility policies helps increase retention rates in organizations by 25% among men and 40% among women.
The most common argument for adopting flexibility at work is that employees end up producing more, because they feel more motivated and allow themselves to do their tasks more calmly when they are not under management’s watchful eye.
The main advantage of flexibility at work is seeing exactly which employees do their work productively and with determination, taking initiative even when they are not under constant supervision.
Adopting flexible hours, allowing remote work, and giving your employees more say in other choices will be a big help in hiring better people in the future, people who are more committed to the work, no matter where or when they do it.
However, depending on the company or the employee’s role, flexible hours and remote work may not be feasible or convenient. Examples include professionals who deal directly with customers or who do not have the tools they need to do their jobs from home.
How to get started
To move from a traditional management model to a more flexible one, the first step is to understand how all managers view this change and whether they will all support this openness. Organizational culture will play a major role in how work is managed and in how much the company benefits.
From there, a good way to start making working conditions more flexible at your company is to let people arrive later or leave earlier, as long as those hours are made up at some point.
For this, a banked-hours system may be the best option. There are already thousands of tools that track hours per activity and help with this process, such as Basecamp, Runrun.it, and todoist. These tools also help with the move to remote work, allowing time spent on tasks to be logged even away from the office and seen by all employees.
To introduce working from home, start by offering one optional day a week to work outside the office and see what the effects are during the first few weeks. If all goes well, no unusual task will be delayed or done sloppily. On the contrary, your employees will feel more comfortable and motivated when they return to work in the following days.
Make each department’s manager responsible for assessing employees’ productivity even when they work from home, and always keep a close eye on deadlines, especially in the first few months.
Being able to help their families with different responsibilities, having more time to organize their personal lives, spending less time commuting, having fewer distractions at work, and aligning their workday with their most productive hours and with colleagues in other time zones are just some of the advantages that more flexible work will bring your employees.
If all this does not lead to better, higher-quality, more transparent, and more creative work, at least you gave it a try.