Flexibility has become a growing priority in the modern workforce. This is not just a matter of popularity. As greater flexibility is introduced into the business world, people realize that the benefits go far beyond what can be seen on the surface. Flexible working hours and flexible work arrangements have both had a profound and widespread positive impact on work-life balance. The simple ability to work at different hours and from different locations outside the strict 9-5 office standard has introduced a level of both freedom and job satisfaction that was unimaginable just a few years ago.
Employers in companies with flexible working hours are also reaping the rewards. As employee morale, energy, and engagement lift in response to the new policies, employees see the positive response reflected in greater engagement, retention, and productivity.
This new adaptive approach to scheduling has revolutionized today’s business world and the popularity continues to spread. Join us in a deep dive into the long-term benefits of flexible work hours for your company and employees.
Flexible Working Hours vs Flexible Working Arrangements
When talking about the advantages of flexibility, it helps to understand exactly where the flex is happening. There are two different ways that employers are providing for adaptive schedules, and both are equally important. These are flexible hours and flexible work arrangements.
Flexible Work Hours
Flexible work hours allow employees to set their own schedule within certain margins. The most structured example would be an employee who shifts their 9-5 hours to instead arrive at 7 and leave at 3 or arrive at 10 and leave at 6. Some employers are allowing even greater flexibility.
Split shifts allow employees to work half their shift, take a break, and then return for the second half. This can leave room for daytime doctor appointments and errands that can only be conducted during a narrow time on weekdays.
In some cases, changing days is also allowed. For example, an employee might work fewer hours during the week and then work a little on Saturday to make up the time. Or even clock in late at night. This allows for people who are at their best at different times of day and for a work week that can adapt to changing conditions and scheduling needs.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Flexible work arrangements involve different work locations and conditions. Work arrangements might include working in-office, remote working at home and hybrid schedules that split the difference. It also allows for things like travel positions and co-working offices, working vacations where an employee is working out of the office but not necessarily at home.
Flexible work arrangements have made the business world more accessible for a much wider net of employees. Employees with disabilities can build the perfect accommodating home office. Employees who don’t travel easily can work from home. And employees who travel constantly can work from anywhere.
Key Benefits for Employees
Punctuality is a prized business value, but human life doesn’t always run like clockwork. This is why flexible working hours can offer a profound source of stress reduction for modern employees. Flat tires, slow buses, getting the kids to school, navigating unpredictable traffic, or needing to leave early to take care of personal matters no longer needs to be a source of write-ups and conflict in the workplace. All with the simple introduction of flexible working hours and working arrangements.
When employees can adapt their schedule to meet their unique needs as humans and members of a greater ecosystem beyond the time clock, stress drops, burnout cases reduce, and productivity begins to rise almost immediately.
Better Work-Life Balance
The simple addition of flexibility has transformed work-life balance for modern employees. Many people have conflicting obligations that don’t always align with each job’s strict work schedule. The ability to adapt a shift’s start and end times or to redistribute the week’s working hours makes work-life balance much easier to achieve. Employees can make room for their personal life while remaining dedicated and focused during the hours they are on the job.
The ability to work away from the office has also introduced entirely new working lifestyles which allow employees to build a lifestyle that balances work and life more effectively based on their needs.
Reduced Stress and Burnout Risk
Being at work on time has been a long-standing source of workplace stress. Employees shouldn’t have to face arbitrary discipline for morning delays, family emergencies, or afternoon doctor’s appointments. The simple addition of flexible working hours has lifted a mountain of stress off the shoulders of the modern workforce.
With the reduction of stress also comes a reduction of burnout cases and burnout risk. Employees who can balance their schedule around delays and personal needs can handle their work-life balance with mental clarity and peace instead of building more stress with each complication.
Increased Autonomy and Job Satisfaction
Autonomy is a key element in job satisfaction. As employees take control of their work schedule and work arrangement, they gain the ability to create a satisfying work routine. Employees feel in control and can adjust their routine which enhance their job satisfaction as circumstances change over time.
Employees who work remotely can build their own work environment. Those who have a flexible schedule can adapt their working hours to their best hours of the day, work around other obligations, and can stop worrying about penalties for minor schedule variations. Employees who have access to flexible work hours can take responsibility for their own job satisfaction each hour of the day.
Improved Productivity and Focus
All of these benefits come together to result in the best advantage of flexible work: productivity. Employees who are not distracted by typical scheduling worries can give their all when they are on the clock. Concerns about rush-hour traffic or family matters will pull focus from the job. Flexible working hours and work conditions give employees the freedom to focus completely on their professional work. They can engage fully at meetings, dive deep into focus centers, and devote their full problem-solving capacity to challenges because when they are at work, they can be fully present.
Flexibility can result in a profound boost in productivity and focus from your workforce, which naturally introduces the benefits to employers that come from offering flexible work policies.
Benefits for Employers
Companies with flexible working hours and arrangements are already getting ahead in industries across the board. Employees who prioritize flexibility will favor offers from employers who can provide the hours or working arrangements that they need. Introducing flexibility to your existing workforce also provides widespread benefits, starting with reduced stress and increased productivity.
The benefits are realized both internally and externally, profound enough to show in the statistics and easy to track through individual employee experiences. If your goals include recruitment, employee retention, morale, engagement, and even attendance, then flexible working hours and flexible work arrangements can provide the edge you need to exceed your objectives and get an edge on the competition.
Attract and Retain Top Talent
Employers are already competing to recruit top talent by offering work flexibility. Professionals fully understand the advantages of flexible hours and many are seeking entirely remote or hybrid roles. Those who can deliver excellent work from their home office, or while traveling have every reason to only consider employers who can meet their flexibility demands.
Even in industries where being physically present is essential, offering some degree of flexibility with core hours and hybrid schedules will help your company capture the best in the industry who appreciate the privilege of flexibility.
Improve Morale and Engagement
Engagement and high morale are the natural result of lifting the burden of scheduling stress from your workforce. The improved work-life balance results in higher morale as employees can more effectively enjoy both their professional and personal lives. The increased ability to focus without scheduling concerns means employees can fully engage with each task and project.
Employers looking for a way to boost employee engagement and morale often find that establishing flexible working hours, remote roles, and hybrid schedules will have the desired effect.
Lower Absenteeism
Absenteeism occurs when employees don’t come to work, typically calling in late or sick. However, the forces that cause absenteeism are almost completely addressed by allowing for flexible schedules and at-home or travel arrangements. Absenteeism is often caused by family obligations, transport problems, and sick days that do not align with allotted time off. Another significant portion of absentee days are the result of burnout.
By allowing for flexible hours and minimizing penalties for schedule variations, employees don’t feel the need to disappear when life gets in the way. Reducing schedule-related stress also reduces burnout and burnout-related absenteeism. And remote or hybrid work options can even eliminate the need for a full day off if employees can’t make it to the office but may still be able to clock a few hours from a laptop.
Wider Talent Pool
Introducing remote and hybrid roles has also had an incredible result for modern employers, opening the gates to skilled professionals who can’t make it to the office. Remote work makes it possible to recruit outside the commuting zone around each location and reduces barriers for employees with disabilities that limit travel.
Hybrid work welcomes employees from a longer commute who are willing to drive further just a few times a week, and for those who have a split week work-life balance.
Examples of Flexible Work Arrangements
Flexible work arrangements represent ways to build a work schedule beyond traditional hours and shifts. There are several innovative types of work arrangements that introduce an entirely new dimension of flexibility to modern employment.
- Flextime
- Flex time is when a worker uses time tracking to work the right number of hours at any time during the week. Employees can break up their days, work overnight, or work on weekends to provide the right amount of work every week while adapting entirely to their personal schedule.
- Compressed workweeks
- A compressed work week is when employees can work longer days to work fewer days a week. For example, working four 10-hour days and taking three days off.
- Remote work or hybrid models
- Remote and hybrid work allows employees to work at home, or anywhere out of the office. Remote work is fully office-independent while hybrid work requires workers to appear at the workplace a few days a week on a set schedule.
- Job sharing
- In job sharing, two part-time employees perform the work of a full-time job and share the compensation of a full-time employee.
- Custom shift scheduling
- Custom shift scheduling leaves room for organizations to introduce unique non-standard work schedules that meet the shared needs of the business and employees when the structure does not conform to any established work shift model.
How to Be More Flexible at Work
Being more flexible can involve offering flexible work hours and arrangements that provide a benefit to every team and workforce. For employees, greater flexibility can mean optimizing your access to flexible policies to enjoy the greatest work-life balance and prove the value of flexible options.
Employers
- Consider the hours that are most important for employees to work. These define when clients are active and when collaborations typically take place. Set these hours as your core hours and allow employees start and end time flexibility surrounding core hours.
- Evaluate what tasks and roles can be done remotely through entirely cloud-connected resources and tools.
- Be prepared to evaluate the benefits of allowing specific types of flexibility for each team and workflow.
- Set expectations and maintain communication
Employees
- Request the schedule flexibility that would work best for you, and explain why
- Use available flexibility to prove that your productivity is optimized when you have access to flex
- Always communicate your plans to ensure coordination with your team when schedules do not always line up
How to Ask for Flexible Working Hours in an Interview
Ask about the employer’s scheduling policies to introduce the concept. The answer will give you a sense of the company’s attitude regarding shift work, punctuality, and overall flexibility.
If flexibility is an option, introduce flexibility in your role as a win-win scenario. Pitch how your work will be better with your desired degree of flexibility, whether you are asking for a later start time, flex time, or the ability to work from home.
What a Flexible Work Schedule Looks Like
Flexible work schedules allow employees to adjust their shift schedule to individual needs. In many cases, employers implement core hours, such as 10 AM to 2 PM, and employees can choose their own start and end times surrounding these hours.
Flexible work hours may also be applied through flex time, where employees have more complete control over when to work their hours at any time throughout the week.
Flexible hours differ from remote work where employees work from home. Remote work can be managed with either strict or flexible hours, putting them on a separate scale of flexibility.
Spotlight: Companies With Flexible Working Hours
Many of the most famous companies today have implemented flexible working hours and flexible work arrangements. The success of these programs has already been proven as, for many, these policies have been in place for nearly a decade.
- Microsoft
- Introduced a FlexWork program that allows employees to work from anywhere and at any time.
- Google
- Variety of flexible working options including telecommuting, flexible scheduling, and hybrid roles.
- Atlassian
- Provides flexible work hours and unlimited time off.
- Dell
- Employees choose their own hours and can work remotely.
- American Express
- Employees choose their work location, schedules, and can seek reduced working hours.
Embracing Flexible Working Hours and Arrangements
Flexible work provides profound benefits for both professionals and employees. These benefits are two sides of the same coin. As employees enjoy greater work-life balance and reduced stress, they can engage more fully and provide more focused productivity when on the job. Now is a valuable time to evaluate your own needs as an individual or a company and pursue new opportunities in flexible work. Need to track hours for work? Try Time Tracker for 14-days for free!