When asked what employees want, a survey found that overwhelmingly and across the globe employees wanted more flexibility in their work schedules. While raises, perks, and promotions may incentivize some employees, many simply want a way to balance their work life with their home life and businesses who offer that flexibility can find success.
If you want to implement a flexible work arrangement in your workplace to attract better employees and keep your current employees happy, consider these steps.
Be Upfront
Too often, flexible schedules fail not because they don’t benefit the employer or employees don’t like the new schedule but because there’s no clarity in the arrangement. Managers need to be upfront with the employees on how flexible work schedules will be conducted and monitored. Employers should start with a policy that clearly outlines what is expected and required of employees who have a flexible work schedule. This policy should be easily accessible through the workforce management software or however the business makes policies available so employees and managers understand the requirements. Starting with clear expectations is essential for finding success with a flexible schedule.
Make a Trial Period
You don’t need to go all in on flexible work schedules. Just like you wouldn’t start running on a twenty mile loop or start a business based off your first idea, flexible work schedules need to be tweaked and perfected. When implementing flexibility in your workplace, start with a trial period that gives employees and managers time to assess the benefits and drawbacks of the new schedule. Once the trial period is over, decide whether it was an improvement or if it needs to be changed. By gathering information on each iteration of the schedule, you can find the perfect balance of flexibility for employees and productivity for management.
Consider Tracking
Gathering business intelligence is essential to continuing your business’ growth and tracking productivity of remote workers can be slightly more complex than in-house employees. When switching to a flexible work schedule, managers need to find a way to continue to track progress even when employees aren’t in the office. A workforce management system can help businesses continue to get the same productivity out of employees even when they work off-site. Tracking can come in many forms such as key logging and screen shot captures so it’s important for businesses to explore their options and find the one that works best with their system and for their employees.
Meet Business and Personal Goals
Providing flexible work schedules can’t be a one-sided perk. Too often, businesses implement these schedules without truly considering how it effects company productivity, instead assuming a flexible schedule won’t actually change the output of the worker. When implementing a flexible work schedule, you need to ensure that schedule meets both business goals, departmental goals, and employees’ personal goals. Setting up milestones and gathering data on flexible workers’ productivity is essential for making sure the employee continues to meet business goals. Make these milestones and goals known to employees so they can work to meet them for your company.
Avoid One-Size-Fits-All Flexibility
Implementing a flexible work schedule can look many different ways. It may be allowing employees to spend one day a week working from home or hiring remote employees. It may be a position built around milestones where hours aren’t calculated or having employees clock in from home at specified hours. Rather than trying to fit all employees into a single schedule, take the time to consider what the best schedule is for each position and which would benefit the company and the employee.
