Are you encouraging flexible working?
That means two things: advertising jobs with flexible working options; and accommodating flexible working requests from your staff.
If you’re still advertising all of your jobs for 9.00 am to 5.30 Monday to Friday you may want to change your practice. If you’re still focusing on inputs and hours worked rather than outputs and outcomes, again, you may want to change your practice.
In many cases, there are no good reasons for turning down flexibility. So often bosses get bogged down with unnecessary obstacles rather than looking at all of the wider benefits.
Importantly, being pro flexible working will allow you to attract and retain top employees that otherwise you would miss out on or lose to a more flexible competitor. Advertising jobs to suit people’s needs and instilling a culture of flexibility makes real business sense. Remember, too, that money is rarely the only driver for applicants in search of jobs.
Technology now makes remote working easier to set up and run. With a range of 4G-enabled devices or cloud-based software and services on the market, employees can work away from the office and have full access to systems.
There are occasions when jobs, particularly client facing ones, require presence in the office. It’s also true that you need to consider issues such as supervision, delegation and communication.
But so often flexible working can work.
Matt Gingell advises businesses and employees on all employment law issues. Matt provides advisory support to organisations on HR matters and acts for senior executives. For more information visit https://www.mattgingell.com/
