Flexible working – how to make it work for your company

Flexible working has been the buzzword since the start of the pandemic.

We are constantly hearing about the potential benefits to both employees and employers, but very little about any drawbacks. So what is flexible employment exactly? What forms does it come in? What are the pros and cons? And is there a flexible working solution for all industries?

What is flexible working?

In a nutshell, it means that you have working arrangements in place that allow employees to vary the timing, amount and/or location of their work. This arrangement takes many different forms:

Working from home – employees spend their week working from home or from anywhere other than their usual place of work

Hybrid working – when people work some of the time in their place of work and some of the time remotely (at home or another workspace)

Flexitime – when employees choose their start and end time but cover core hours each day

Four-day week – working 32 hours a week instead of the standard 40 hours, but with the same pay and benefits

Compressed hours (5 days into 4 or 10 days into 9) – when employees work full-time hours over fewer working days

Term-time working – when a worker is on a permanent contract but can take paid or unpaid leave during school holidays

Swing shifts – when a worker covers the middle shift of a 24-hour operation, typically between 4pm and midnight, but hours might differ on a weekly basis

Zero-hours contract – when there are no contracted hours set, individuals are called upon as and when needed, and are paid only for the hours they work.

Annual hours – employees work a set number of hours each year but the length of the working day and week can vary according to their or their employer’s wishes

Commissioned outcomes – when there are no fixed hours of work, simply an output target that has to be met

Staggered hours – when an employee has a different start, finish and break time to other employees but works the same number of hours at the same place of work

Job sharing – when two or more people share responsibility for the same job, working different hours/days but in the same role.

Pros of flexible working 

In today’s labour market, despite the recent fall in vacancies, the number of jobs per candidate remains at a historic low (ONS), so will offering flexible working help you to draw the best candidates? With the cost of living crisis on everyone’s mind, job seekers are increasingly looking for higher pay packets to ease the burden (BBC) but flexible working remains high on their priorities (IOD). Consider these potential benefits to flexible working, for both your business and your employees.

Benefits for your business

• Helps address the skills shortage by attracting the best talent
• Improves staff retention and loyalty
• Empowers the organisation to be more responsive to change.

Benefits for your employees

• Supports diversity
• Narrows the gender pay gap
• Supports wellbeing
• Reduces the chance of burnout, stress and exhaustion
• Improves work/life balance.

Cons of flexible working

Due to the displacement of staff over several workspaces, varying hours and lack of visibility, there are some potential drawbacks to flexible working arrangements.

Drawbacks for your business

• Reduces trust between employee and manager
• Increases risk of breaches in IT security
• Leads to less effective time management
• Can be exploited by unobserved employees.

Drawbacks for your employees

• Worsens perception of performance – while there’s no evidence to suggest a link between being visible/’face time’ and performance, research suggests employees who can be physically observed by managers are deemed more productive, given better appraisals and are promoted more than those working off-site
• Increases disengagement from work ethos and team cooperation
• Increases loneliness and is detrimental to workplace culture when fewer staff are on site, with many working elsewhere or at different times
• Not viable option for all job types or industries – can create two-tier workforce, separating those able to work flexibly from those who cannot.

Is flexible working an option for your industry?

The most popular and talked-about option for flexible working is working from home or hybrid working. But what if your line of business cannot be transferred to a home-based network of employees? Perhaps you’re in manufacturing and need staff on a production line 24/7? Perhaps you run a distribution centre and have to have staff on hand to deliver ‘just in time’ commitments?

Given that all employees have the legal right to request flexible working arrangements, provided they have worked for the same employer for 26 weeks or more, it would be advisable to have a few viable options worked out that would mean you can respond in ‘a reasonable manner’ (as the law demands – gov.uk). If your workforce is largely based outside the office environment, you may want to consider the working options outlined above that still give you the staff required for each shift but that offer your workers flexibility in terms of start time, shift pattern, compressed hours or job shares, for example.

For more information on adopting, improving, measuring and evaluating flexible working arrangements, read the CIPD guide.

For help with recruitment, call Key Appointments on 0844 504 4666 or drop us a line at info@key-appointments.co.uk.