When I conducted some research with the younger members of our team "the millennial set", I found that flexible working was the key to them remaining a focused modern employee, 91% suggested that flexible working was important and 92% saying they wanted the option to work from home. Interestingly, however, 66% said they would prefer to work more in the office than at home and 0% saying they would want to work exclusively from home. As someone who has worked 100% in the office, 100% at home, a mixture of both and on the road traveling around the country, I have had a fair amount of experience of the various ways of working. Sadly, perfection appears out of reach as each has its positives and negatives.
Work styles are changing, and businesses that want to attract the best employees must embrace flexible workspace design to accommodate them. Two findings that jump out from a recent survey are that creative workplace design is a top-of-mind issue for today’s employees, and flexibility and adaptability are critical elements employers must offer if they want to attract and retain top talent. Clearly, employee expectations around these issues are on the rise, not surprising in light of other trends in the employment space. Employers face a sustained seller’s market in their quest to recruit, hire, and retain top talent, and issues like work-life balance and programs that support mental health and well-being are increasingly important to employees, especially the millennials.
Thoughtful workplace design and location is something that professionals increasingly expect companies to pay attention, “Employees define flexibility in terms of solutions and services provided by their employer that make work-life harmony more attainable, such as flexible office hours, ease of access, and on-site amenities like a gym, a coffee bar and even a convenient shop.” 81 percent of respondents in this year’s survey rank a flexible schedule in their top two reasons to stay with a company, up from 73 percent in 2018.
The important thing to note is that flexible working does not to simply mean where you work, it also appears to relate to when and how you work. Flexible working means that you have the flexibility to manage your time and resource in a way that is most effective and the most productive so that the work is not only done but gets done to the best quality whilst maintaining a better work-life balance.
Flexible working does not simply refer to where you work but also when and how you work. Having spoken to some of the user group who work at advertising agencies, it seems that the more creative people did not like early mornings and preferred to work later. As such the Business team would rarely see members of the creative team in the morning but a few hours later they would be in, full of life and energy, ready for the day ahead. At 6:00 pm they would often go for a drink with everyone else who was finishing work, before heading back to the office to craft their next masterpiece late into the evening (often with empty pizza boxes as evidence on their desks the following morning). What we learned from this experience was that being ‘creative’ and applying yourself does not just happen in the office during the standard workday, so trying to force it is counterproductive. In such a competitive marketplace where these creative and innovative thoughts are the things that move businesses forward and set them apart, it is vital to allow employees to work in a way that is best for them as it ensures motivation and creativity remain high and the best work is delivered time and time again.
This flexible approach to work also helps businesses retain their best talent as they are giving their employees an option to do great work, but in a way that fits their lifestyle providing a win-win scenario for all.
Employees want a lot when it comes to dynamic and adaptable workplace design. Seventy-seven percent say they perform better when their workplace provides collaboration spaces, 88 percent say they perform better when they have space for focused, head-down work, and 45 percent would like to have space aside from their traditional workstation or desk for individual work. In other words, they want it all and the employers that give it to them have a leg up in the competition for top talent.
All this being said, the practicalities of business mean that you do need to have team meetings and be face to face at times, but this can easily be solved by having a few fixed days and times when everyone has to be in the office – for example, every Monday and Wednesday between 10 and 2 everyone has to be in. This means all core meetings and department meetings could be held between these times, but then the staff can work flexibly for the rest of the week to deliver the work required. On the odd occasion when key meetings do need to happen outside of these allotted times, video calling, and fast connectivity has improved so much that you can easily get on a video call or share your screen from anywhere.
For all the benefits that flexible working brings, and the new ways of working offered by technology, none of it can happen without trust. However, for all the benefits that flexible working brings, and the new ways of working offered by technology, none of it can happen without trust. Sadly, many companies have the mentality of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, i.e. if they cannot see you they do not think you are working. This is why the CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer's decision in 2013 to ban al l remote working was so controversial, as many saw the decision as her saying she didn't trust her staff to work properly if they were not present in the office.
Also, statistics show that people who do work away from the office overcompensate with their communication and work longer to show their colleagues they are working. This is in response to the negative view many have that those working remotely are just having a day off. This mentality and lack of trust defeat the point of working flexibly in the first place as you end up working more hours and feel guilty, meaning working the set hours in the office would have been the better option.
Modern businesses need to remove the old habits ingrained from the industrial era where you went to a single place of work between 9 and 5 every day to perform standardised tasks. Modern businesses need to remove the old habits ingrained from the industrial era where you went to a single place of work between 9 and 5 every day to perform standardised tasks. Instead, they need to recognise that the world has moved on, modern service-based jobs are significantly different from the manufacturing jobs of the past, technology has improved and become widely available and people work differently. They need to trust their employees to take accountability of their workload and time management to get things done, whether this is at 9:00 am in the office or 9:00 pm at home. If businesses cannot trust their employees to work flexibly then surely, they cannot trust them with anything else such as confidential business information and financial details? And if businesses do not trust their employees, then it begs the question of why they hired them in the first place?
About the author
Vanessa Wilson is responsible for People and Culture at Orchard House Solutions.
