Truth 25. Flex is best
Workplace flexibility isn’t a matter of more private time for employees as much as it is a matter of more control of all their time. And employers benefit as a result. Studies of workplace flexibility report higher engagement, more employee commitment, greater retention, and improved performance (even greater on-time performance in some manufacturing or distribution centers) when employees have more control over the way they mix their work and private time.
Over recent years, companies have increasingly set policies allowing some kind of workplace flexibility. Flexibility could take any number of forms: staggered hours, telecommuting, split or shared shifts, and even distance working, where an employee works out of her home, her briefcase, a frequent fliers’ lounge, or a cubicle at the FedEx Office. But it’s one thing for companies to offer flexible work plans. It’s an entirely different matter for managers to actually allow it. Even though the pro-flexibility policy might have been hatched in the cool, crisp air of the C-suite, executives wisely leave its actual implementation to the managers who are best positioned to decide whether it’s a realistic way to run their individual teams on a day-to-day basis.
Studies of workplace flexibility report higher engagement, more employee commitment, greater retention, and improved performance.
But many managers, focusing on the short-term issues of work in the trenches, are still seeing that the upfront hassle of setting up a program in their teams isn’t worth the long-term benefits. Managers looking at flexible work arrangements can immediately imagine problems with perceived favoritism (even discrimination), lack of control over how employees use their time to maximize productivity, and communication issues. It’s understandable that many managers resist the risk that flexible workplaces pose.
Don’t mistake your prerogative to say yes as a blanket permission to say no. It could be easier than you think to implement a flexible workplace:
• Double-check with HR in HQ. Make sure that there’s commitment to flexibility at the very top. See what policies are already in place on the corporate level. There might be an incentive program that encourages managers to experiment with flexible arrangements. Or the organizational effectiveness office might send a team to help you with the planning and considerations you’ll face.
Don’t mistake your prerogative to say yes as a blanket permission to say no.
• Recruit your employees as your collaborators. Work with them as a group to decide what kinds of flexible arrangements would work best for them. Give them a sense of ownership in the planning of the initial stages, and they’ll take on some responsibility toward its success.
• Let them know what your concerns are. As their co-adventurer on this experiment, you have specific needs that your employees should help you with. You might have trust or control concerns. So, let your team know that you’ll need their help in reassuring you, especially during this early phase.
• Expect mistakes, disappointments, and process reviews. Just know in advance that there will be some missteps. Some employees won’t be able to resist the temptation of taking advantage of the program. You might not be able to resist the urge to shorten the control leash on your employees, especially if you’re subconsciously worried that you’re losing control that you value.
• Get support from your colleagues. You don’t have to pioneer this by yourself. Seek out the managers of other departments and business units that are implementing flexible work schedules. Find out what is working for them and what mistakes you can avoid making. If it doesn’t already exist, create a community of managers sharing their best practices with each other and then extending that learning to other divisions in your company.
• Get some of that good stuff for yourself. It may dawn on you one morning while you’re stuck in traffic that there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy a flexible work schedule, too. Your people know how to find you. The work is getting done. You’ve demonstrated to your boss that the flexible work schedule is actually enhancing retention. Why not? You’ve got a great case to bring to your boss, who will then have a great case to bring to leaders all the way up the organization.