It’s 4:43 PM. Your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy stiff, exhausted from a day of mundane, monotonous work. You look up from your computer every 30 seconds, waiting for the clock to strike 5 PM, when you can start slowly packing up to go home (or, in these times, close your laptop and switch on Netflix).
We’ve all had that job – the one where time moves so slow the only thing you can do is contemplate your impending mortality and bad life choices.
Sorry I’ve gone off track.
ANYWAY.
Today, I want to talk about flexibility.
Why?
Flexible work is inclusive.
When companies offer flexible working arrangements, they are more attractive to women (who typically spend a disproportionate amount of time on unpaid work like parental responsibilities) and differently-abled workers, inevitably leading to a larger pool of talent to hire from.
Disability rights activist and HR professional, Jamie Szymkowiak, writes:
Remote working means that relying on inaccessible transport and badly designed workplaces are no longer hurdles for disabled workers.
At L’Oréal Australia, the recognition by senior management that flexible working arrangements are important to develop female leaders resulted in an increased representation of women in senior leadership positions. In 2016, the company announced that the majority of its Management Committee was made up of women members for the first time in its history.
An organization with flexible working arrangements indicates a progressive workplace with more engaged employees. When companies offer flexible work, they acknowledge their employees’ lives outside of work. This kind of inclusive thinking is attractive to applicants.
With over 87% of employees reporting that they would prefer to stay remote at least half of the time, companies will need to embrace flexible working more than ever before.
Common Myths About Flexible Working
I’m lucky to have mostly worked at companies that have had pretty flexible working arrangements, but I’ve had my fair share of less progressive work environments.
Here are my thoughts on a few common misconceptions around flexible working1:
Flexible work will negatively impact our work culture.
I don’t doubt that flexible working will impact your company culture, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing? During the pandemic, many organizations have found creative ways to maintain their culture, such as virtual happy hours, cooking classes, and team-building exercises. Flexible working might be a good way to test the strength of your culture. That is, if you lose certain aspects of your company culture because of flexible working, they probably weren’t worth keeping around in the first place.
We won’t be able to connect and collaborate effectively.
I do sympathize with this argument because there are aspects of work that are unique to the physical workplace. But that’s the thing: you should never try to “recreate” in-person work online. Instead, use the endless array of tools like Zoom, Miro, Slack, and Trello, to adapt the way you work. I’ve found that the teams who collaborate least effectively online are the ones who simply don’t make use of the vast functionalities of each tool. Collaborating remotely is not an inferior experience to in-person collaboration. Oftentimes, it can be more inclusive and productive.
If employees are not physically at their desks in the office, how will we know that they’re actually working?
This is my personal favorite because it’s such an old-fashioned way of thinking, it’s almost laughable. Since when did being physically at your desk mean that you were working anyway? (So what if I have an online shopping addiction, stop looking at my screen!) Multiple studies show that flexible workers are more productive, happier, feel more valued, take fewer sick days, and report higher levels of job satisfaction. I am a firm believer that you should be evaluated on the quality of your work and your ability to meet your objectives, not on the time you spend at your desk.
If your work isn’t flexible (read: inclusive) enough, it might be a good time to have a conversation with your manager on the benefits of flexible working and how you can make it work – for both of you. You can even suggest a trial run to test what works. Just remember: Communication is always key.
And if that doesn’t work, run for the hills.
Based on the 5 C’s from the Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.