Building

A Flexible

Workplace

01 May 2012

What is workplace flexibility?

• Workplace flexibility is about when, where and how people

work.

• Enables both individual and business needs to be met through

making changes to the time (when), location (where) and

manner (how) in which an employee works.

• Key components - organization, managers and employees

When people work

Flexible working hours:

Individualized start and quit times that remain constant each work day

Hours that vary daily but the total number of hours worked every week

remain constant

Part-time work:

Working fewer than the standard weekly hours e.g. 2 days/wk

Compressed work schedules:

35-40 hour work week condensed into fewer than five work days

•4/8.75 Four 8.75-hour days (35 hours)

•4/10 Four 10-hour days (40 hours)

Variable year employment

Changing work hours over the month or through the year

When people work

Source: Worldatwork Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2011

Where people work

•

Teleworking: working away from the main office (i.e. at home) either full or part-

time, and on a regular or intermittent basis. For most people, it's working from

home either occasionally or for an agreed number of days each week

Source: Worldatwork Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2011

How people work

• Job-sharing - two people sharing one full-time job on an ongoing basis. For example, working two and a half days each, a two/three day split or one week on and one week off

• Phased retirement - reducing a full-time work commitment over a number of years (e.g. from 4 days to 3 days per week) before moving into retirement. It can also mean becoming an "alumni", i.e. that a "retired" employee returns to the workplace to cover peak work periods or to provide specialist knowledge

• Annualised hours - working a set number of hours per year instead of a number of hours per week.

Why is this

important?

#1: Job Satisfaction

BlessingWhite Global survey on what would improve job satisfaction?

• "more flexible job conditions"

• “ career development”

• “more opportunities to do what I do best”

Source: Worldatwork Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2011

#1: Job Satisfaction

• 75 percent work more hours because of flexible work schedules

(work wherever & whenever they want)

• 79 percent reporting increased productivity and 78 percent

reporting increased efficiency

• 64 percent reported improved work/life balance

• 51 percent felt more relaxed because of flexible work

#2: Engagement & Motivation

• 79 percent reporting increased productivity and 78 percent

reporting increased efficiency

• 64 percent reported improved work/life balance

• 51 percent) felt more relaxed because of flexible work

Source: Worldatwork Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2011

#3: Changing demographics

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates from 2008 to 2018 labor force participation by workers age 55 and older is expected to increase by

43 percent

• Participation by those ages 16 to 24 is expected to decrease

• Strategies to attract & retain:

– Offering part-time positions

– hiring retirees as consultants and temporary workers

– offering flexible work arrangements

CONSIDERATIONS

FOR A

flexibility plan

#1: Unique culture

Control vs. Flexibility • Do you want to allow your workers to control their work/life balance

• Would you rather prescribe certain modes of working and allow your workers to have freedom within those bounds?

Self Service vs. Full Service What is flexible about your work style?

• Self Service mobile officing environments make assets available for employees with little oversight & admin support

• Full Service environments go to great lengths to insure employees have everything they need – catering, supplies, little amenities, etc.

Who is applicable & why? • Reward driven?

• Demographic driven?

• Roles driven?

Source: Worldatwork Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2011

Examples: context based

Parents with Dependent Care Responsibilities

• Traditional flextime

• Last-minute flexibility

• Reduced work hours

• Leave for caregiving

• Fathers?

Low wage and hourly workers

• Reduced work hours

• Traditional flextime

• Shift flexibility

• Break arrangements

• Leave for caregiving

Workers with Disabilities

• Reduced work hours

• Traditional flextime

• Telecommuting/working from home options

• Break arrangements

#2: Mobility across departments

Mobility cuts across departments & vary: Study departments

and include all your work style analyses

Psychological Patterns vary: sales persons don’t want a office

as compared to consultants who do

Don’t assume that teleworkers can always work from home and

will never need to return to the office: Your mobile officing

program must accommodate them in their need to return to the

office in order to keep their satisfaction high.

#3: managers'

• Managers hold the key to effective, full-scale

implementation of flexibility

• Only 12 percent of organizations that are developing

flexibility initiatives provide their managers with training and

resources.

• Essential to enhance their knowledge, provide them with

tools and develop their skills

#3: managers'

Source: Worldatwork Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2011

#3: managers'

• Enhance Knowledge: Communicate employee challenges & use best cases to share success stories

• Tools and Training

– Performance management

– Communication

– Virtual meetings

– Team culture

Lessons Learnt

Flex Policy obstacles

The main obstacles to implementing flexible work arrangements:

equal treatment for employees

ensuring that the work is done

the impracticality of such arrangements given the nature of jobs in

the organization’s industry

the difficulty in supervising employees working off site

possible co-worker resentment

• Question your assumptions: Do employees really need two workplaces?

• Develop metrics to measure success

• One Size does not fit all

• Home based work attracts

• Incorporate different domains

• Executive champions needed

• Change is complicated

• Remain Flexible

The END

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