9 Points to Consider When Implementing Flexible Working
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:42 am
In the first post of this three-part series, I looked at the benefits of flexible working for both the employee and the employer. From widening your talent pool to reducing staff turnover and increasing productivity, the plethora of benefits makes flexible working a highly attractive option.
Often the sticking point for organisations is how to actually implement flexible working as well as some deep rooted management assumptions about its lack of workability, particularly for certain roles. Whilst employers have largely moved on from the misconception that flexible working is all about employees wanting to work part-time, there are many team leaders that are still put off by the notion of managing team members working in a myriad of different ways. Herein lies the challenge and hopefully in this post I can help to break some of the preconceptions and offer some solutions to help you implement flexible working in your workplace.
Purple House recently held an event with a broad HR audience and it revealed the differing views about flexible working and where it sits as a priority within their respective businesses. Here's a round-up of some of the barriers I heard from employers and employees.
Resistance from employers and managers
A perceived lack of employee control – Many employers feel that they lack the bahamas phone number list capability to manage flexible workers as effectively as they could if they were full-time in the office i.e. managing communications with the employee and between team members. There is still an emphasis and ‘comfort’ on managing presence rather than productivity and a lack of trust in employees.
Operational pressures – Concerns about being less able to meet customer and service demands, coupled with a feeling that flexible working leads to a lack of control over workflow
Absence of suitable processes or tech to facilitate flexible working – Flexible or remote working can require tech investment to enable collaboration and communication and to measure productivity. Without a firm belief in the benefits of flexible working, it can be difficult to get the company to invest the resources to make it happen
Lack of support from leadership – For flexible working to really work there needs to be top-down support. When the spirit of flexible working isn't embraced by leadership there tends to be a hole in the company culture. This invariably leads to a lack of clarity, policy and will and ensures management attitudes such as ‘you can’t do a senior role flexibly’ or ‘you can’t do a client-facing role flexibly’ permeate.
Often the sticking point for organisations is how to actually implement flexible working as well as some deep rooted management assumptions about its lack of workability, particularly for certain roles. Whilst employers have largely moved on from the misconception that flexible working is all about employees wanting to work part-time, there are many team leaders that are still put off by the notion of managing team members working in a myriad of different ways. Herein lies the challenge and hopefully in this post I can help to break some of the preconceptions and offer some solutions to help you implement flexible working in your workplace.
Purple House recently held an event with a broad HR audience and it revealed the differing views about flexible working and where it sits as a priority within their respective businesses. Here's a round-up of some of the barriers I heard from employers and employees.
Resistance from employers and managers
A perceived lack of employee control – Many employers feel that they lack the bahamas phone number list capability to manage flexible workers as effectively as they could if they were full-time in the office i.e. managing communications with the employee and between team members. There is still an emphasis and ‘comfort’ on managing presence rather than productivity and a lack of trust in employees.
Operational pressures – Concerns about being less able to meet customer and service demands, coupled with a feeling that flexible working leads to a lack of control over workflow
Absence of suitable processes or tech to facilitate flexible working – Flexible or remote working can require tech investment to enable collaboration and communication and to measure productivity. Without a firm belief in the benefits of flexible working, it can be difficult to get the company to invest the resources to make it happen
Lack of support from leadership – For flexible working to really work there needs to be top-down support. When the spirit of flexible working isn't embraced by leadership there tends to be a hole in the company culture. This invariably leads to a lack of clarity, policy and will and ensures management attitudes such as ‘you can’t do a senior role flexibly’ or ‘you can’t do a client-facing role flexibly’ permeate.