Flexibility in the Workplace - Five Strategies for Success -tahablog

Workplace flexibility relates to strategies for how work is done and how the business organizes workers and work flow. Flexibility is essential to the effectiveness of any workplace and companies use it to maintain or improve employee engagement and retention as well as to manage workloads. Research shows that flexible working options enhance productivity, boost efficiency, and drive business results.

The work week is stressful

There are many ways to implement flexibility in the workplace. For example, a company can offer flexible work options, where employees are given the freedom to choose their start and quit times as long as they meet a predetermined number of work hours per week and their work schedule remains within the company’s core operating hours. Another variation is the reduced work week setting. In this arrangement, employees can work their allotted hours per week in a period of four days (10 hours per day). In other companies, alternative work schedules can include adding an hour to the normal hours offered Monday through Thursday so that workers can get out early on Friday. Other flexible working options may include part-time work and job sharing.

Share the work

In this arrangement, two (or more) people “Involved” Same job and job, everyone who works part-time during certain periods of the week or month. Many employers are now implementing job sharing because it allows them to take advantage of broader ranges of complementary skills and experience within a single job function. Employers can also attract highly qualified employees who are unable to work full time.

Work from home

Another way to implement flexibility in the workplace is to create remote work programs for employees whose work can still be done outside of the normal office environment. To cut overhead costs, many companies are now allowing their employees to work from home. Flexible time working remotely allows workers to spend more time with their families because they bring their work home where they can easily supervise their children at the same time. Another benefit of telecommuting is that workers are able to cut commuting costs to and from work from their daily budgets.

Here are five strategies for success that you can adopt.

To implement organizational flexibility, it is important to start by identifying jobs that will benefit or fit flexible work schedules. Develop service quality policies and metrics to measure the effectiveness of working arrangements and create guidance on how to modify work options so that they can be improved. Before fully implementing some arrangement such as telecommuting or job sharing, you may also want to test it out on a test group first.
Training is important for virtual workers and their managers. Implementing flexibility in the workplace requires a different approach compared to having a normal work schedule for everyone and having all your employees work from the same desks. Employees must learn how to troubleshoot basic networking issues or solve specific problems to make them more self-sufficient and ready to work on their own. On the other hand, supervisors need to be trained to manage people working from different locations.
One of the benefits of remote working is having happy, productive employees working out of company offices. To help employees prepare for remote work, it is important to provide the company with a system for creating a secured virtual workspace. Ensure that all tools required in the virtual work area are properly maintained so that production flow is not compromised even when no one is in the office.
One of the many success strategies for promoting flexibility in the workplace involves asking your employees what they think of flexible working options. It is important to ensure that everyone is informed of the working arrangements. You may want to take their opinions about the implementation of the program into consideration to ensure that they are also amenable to changes.
Post success stories. Regularly evaluate program success and highlight success stories about workplace resilience through online newsletters or desktop bulletin boards. This will encourage more employees to be open to the idea of alternative working arrangements.