Flexible working is becoming more commonplace in today’s work environment. Many companies are starting to understand that it makes business sense as it can improve efficiency levels, employee health, competitiveness, and cost-effectiveness. Discover how flexible working can help you transform your workforce by reading the 9 benefits for your business below
It has been found that a flexible workforce has a direct impact on the both staff retention and absenteeism. One study revealed that 65% of employers said that flexible working positively affected their recruitment efforts and retention. 70% of employers believed that they had experienced a significant improvement in employee relations, increasing staff loyalty. Ultimately, this will create cost savings for your business as there will be less need to spend money on recruitment, induction, and training.
As employees have more control over their working hours, you may find that your business’ opening hours are naturally extended. Furthermore, if it is agreed that your employees work from home, you will save on the costs of keeping your offices open outside of the traditional 9-5 working day. This can give you a competitive advantage in your marketplace as an increasing number of customers expect to be able to be served 24/7.
A flexible working culture attracts talent. It is not just parents that desire flexibility, but the majority of the workforce do. One study revealed that over 9 out of 10 professionals said that, if given the choice between two similar jobs, they would choose the job that offered more flexibility.
Research has suggested that millions of people spend more than two hours commuting to work every day.If it is agreed that the employee works from home, they will avoid the stress of travelling on cramped trains or driving to work in tail-to-tail stretches of road, which can ultimately affect their productivity for the rest of the day. For those who request to start work an hour or so later, this commute time can be considerably reduced by travelling off-peak.
The workforce is made up of a range of different working styles, and an individual’s working environment can have a positive, or negative, impact on their working style. Flexible working can give an employee more control over what suits their style of working, improving productivity levels.
Additionally, flexible working hours allow workers to perform at their peak. For example, if an individual is a ‘morning person’ they will perform better by starting work earlier in the day and finishing up earlier. If they are a ‘night person’ they will feel fresher starting later and finishing later. When both are working the hours they feel they accomplish the most, productivity levels will be boosted.
More companies are starting to realise the potential of having a flexible, productive workforce over a team that are in the office but unengaged at times.
Staggeringly, only 30% of UK workers take a proper lunch hour, with 24% regularly working through their break. Furthermore, the average person works eight weeks a year for free due to the amount of unpaid overtime they regularly do. With such a large number of individuals not taking a healthy amount of downtime, it is unsurprising that 51% of employee’s experience ‘burnout’ at some stage.
Flexible working is an effective way to prevent ‘burnout’ from happening as the worker has more control over their breaks and working hours.
A flexible working environment is great for boosting an employee’s morale. Giving them the control over their own schedule and working environment makes for a happier individual, and a happier individual will be more productive.
It has been shown that having a flexible working schedule has a positive impact on diet, work-life balance and stress. In the same study is was revealed that home-workers experience 25% less stress than their colleagues working in a traditional office environment.
From a macro-environmental perspective, flexible working can have a positive impact on a company’s carbon footprint. If it agreed that some employees work from home for a few days a week, there will be less need for them to travel long distances to the office, reducing car emissions. Furthermore, due to the remote nature of working from home, your company will likely rely on electronic means of communicating more, therefore the amount of paper used on a daily basis can be substantially reduced.
Overall, flexible working holds many benefits for businesses. It increases productivity levels, workplace health, competitiveness and cost-effectiveness which can only benefit your company as a whole.
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