How will the economic situation affect flexible working? It’s a question that is exercising leading firms, even those which are supportive of flexible working.
“It is definitely more challenging in the current climate,” says Carolanne Minashi, head of diversity for markets and banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at finance group Citi.
“It needs to be presented as a triangle where everyone’s needs have to be met. There may need to be more of a compromise on all sides,” she added. “This climate forces people to really think how it will work and what the impact on the team will be. In the past, managers made two main errors: they either said no without thinking or being creative or they said yes too quickly and didn’t think what this would mean for the team.”
For many it will mean that flexible working needs to be presented in ways that focus more on the benefits it can bring to companies, rather than seen, as it has been in the past, as a perk offered by companies to help staff with work life balance issues.
The pros
The advantages include savings on real estate, savings on travel time for employees and the ability to have a workforce which is more mobile or can work hours which fit with global clients better. Another is the ability to retain skilled staff, which will become increasingly important in a period of economic decline.
For Work Wise, the wider benefits of having more staff working from home or remotely are clear. They include reducing pollution and congestion. With petrol prices rising this is something that will appeal to staff, if not employers.
Minashi admits there may be some additional skills needed by managers who are managing flexible staff, but says the reality of business for firms such as Citi is that they are operating globally and in different time zones and staff are out of the office on client business a lot. “They all have Blackberries and there is 24/7 communication,” she says. “It is all about virtual team management.”
Research
Citi was one of seven blue-chip companies which took part in a two-year research project on flexible working conducted by the Cranfield School of Management in collaboration with Working Families.
The report on the research, Measuring up – the impact of flexible working practices on performance, was published recently and showed that there was a strong argument for how flexible working can be presented as a win win situation for both employer and employee.
Most flexible workers, co-workers of flexible workers and managers of flexible workers reported either a positive impact on performance or no impact, both in terms of the quantity and quality of work produced. Employees said working flexibly reduced their stress levels, although a minority found flexible working stressful.
Competitive edge
The report also found that, in addition to formally agreed flexible working practices, many employees worked flexibly on an ad hoc and informal basis. One of the key benefits to managers was increased commitment from staff working flexibly and for employees higher levels of job satisfaction. Significantly in the current economic climate, the availability of flexible working for all staff was seen as “a key competitive strategy” for attracting the best employees.
Sarah Jackson, Working Families chief executive, said the findings “strengthened the business case for flexible working”. “The research shows that flexibility has a positive effect on the quality and quantity of work and on employee commitment. It is also clear that flexible working works best where it is available to all employees.”
As more research emerges showing the benefits of carefully negotiated flexible working for both employer and employee, it will help to make a stronger business case for change, one which will need to be made more emphatically in the worsening economic climate.
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