March 22, 2011
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David Sandusky
Does your small business offer flexible work arrangements to employees? If not, you’re in the distinct minority. According to the new Survey on Workplace Flexibility recently released by WorldatWork, a nonprofit organization that studies HR issues, 98 percent of U.S. employers currently offer at least one workplace flexibility program.
The study measured the impact of flexibility programs on companies’ ability to attract, motivate and retain workers, and also looked at how companies manage their programs. Although workplace flexibility programs are widespread, the study found nearly 60 percent of them are informal, meaning there’s no written policy in place and flexibility is offered at managers’ discretion.
But that approach seems to be working out just fine: Four in 10 companies say flexibility is part of their company culture. A stronger culture of flexibility was correlated with a lower rate of voluntary turnover, and companies reported that flexibility had positive impacts on their employees’ motivation, satisfaction and engagement.
The survey looked at 12 kinds of flexibility programs: part time, flex time, phased return from leave, telework weekly, telework monthly, full-time telework, compressed workweeks, job sharing, flexible shifts, phased retirement, career on/off ramps and a combination of programs.
Want to read more on flexible work environments? Check these out:
On average, companies offer six different types of flexibility options at any given time. However, the study found no correlation between the number of programs offered and turnover rates. What matters, it seems, isn’t the number of options you offer, but that you offer the options best-suited to your staff’s needs.
And what options fit people’s needs best? The most popular types of programs are flextime (flexible start/stop times), part-time schedules (with or without benefits) and teleworking on an ad hoc basis (to meet a repair person, deal with a sick child and so on). Each of these programs was offered to some or all employees in more than 80 percent of surveyed companies.
What’s standing in the way of flexibility? Obstacles reported include lack of training and resistance by top management (middle management, in contrast, generally supported the programs).
If your company doesn’t offer workplace flexibility, are you what’s standing in the way? Many small business owners are reluctant to break from traditional ways of doing things, or to allow employees to work without being present to observe them. If you’re still clinging to the belief that your people need to be under your eye from 9 to 5 in order to accomplish their jobs, your company could be at a real disadvantage when it’s time to hire.
In particular, the study noted, Gen Y employees demand and expect flexibility on the job. As more workers of this generation enter the workforce, those few companies not offering flexibility will be forced to adapt in order to compete.
Check your balance, review recent transactions and pay your bill on the go.
David Sandusky 1 year 2 months and 7 days ago
Besides, if managers do not trust who they hired to exceed expectations with flexibility and autonomy, what is the point of the hire? The value of the manager who can't hire trust?