That said, flexible working delivers most fully on its promise when some thought is given to how it will work in practice. Pulling it all together, it’s clear that flexible working is here to stay. Flexible working arrangements allow companies to meet present and future challenges by creating choice, accommodating generations, enabling complexity, and creating agility. All of these strategies were about extracting more value from what was already being produced. At CAN we make sure that employees, their spouse and their families understand CAN’s work environment before their first day of work. It … Stakeholders noted that flexible work arrangements may be especially challenging to implement in sectors with 24/7 or continuous operations, such as aviation, rail and trucking, and in small and medium-sized enterprises, where resources to accommodate flexibility are often very limited. BYOD typically requires firms to hirer more technical people and provide more training and documentation. Co–workers, managers and... 2. Trust and self–motivation become the key. For example, one clever Tweet can reach millions of people, while thousands of mediocre Tweets can fail to ever be read. Estimates by the global research company IPSOS indicate that about 57% of Indian employees telecommute frequently and another one-third work remotely every day – thus doing away with the stress that accompanies long travel and working hours. Some employees thrive in the social workplace. The kind of technical support required, if needed. If your typical employees needs to call customer support if they forget or need to reset their password, they probably won’t be able to setup a VPN on their laptop. Part-time work can be used to attract a workforce that … When the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) wanted to hire specialist staff, it knew it was up against private firms offering bigger salaries. Sutton Fell and other workplace experts suggest considering flexible arrangements when doing workforce planning, particularly if you face these five common recruitment challenges: 1. Thirdly, looking at those organisations where flexible working has become the norm, it is often the case that much of this flexible working has been arranged on informal basis. Nor should this be surprising: when people change the way in which they work, invariably other things have to change too. Challenges that exist on-site can easily transfer to off-site work and need to be addressed first. An understanding that child care, elder care, and other significant responsibilities cannot be performed while working off-site. Co–workers, managers and especially clients will expect that they can reach you, and that you will provide a timely response, i.e. They usually do not take the initiative or take the decision to do work based on their work schedule. It may become a huge problem when the employees who happen to thrive in... 2. Supervisors may experience challenges overseeing and evaluating off-site employees. ... is a key component of our … It can come in many different shapes to fit your company’s needs. Solution: The true benefits of flexible working can only be … At EY, we understand life’s challenges and complexities. Flexible work programs have many apparent advantages, but critics point out that ill-conceived programs can have a negative impact on businesses, and they add that even good … Although there are many known benefits of being able to provide work / life balance to employees, there are also challenges which need to be carefully considered and strategised. Not only does part‑time working involve a change to the formal contract of employment, but where an employee moves from full‑time working to part-time working, practical difficulties are often encountered in terms of establishing an appropriate workload, and in agreeing expectations of availability. Moreover,  the provision of flexible working arrangements also builds loyalty towards the employer. Successful teleworking requires: An employee who is willing to work independently and alone and has the appropriate traits and characteristics for a successful long distance relationship, An employee who can compartmentalize his life. Despite its extensive use in certain environments, shift work poses some practical challenges for some employers. Issues range from: spouses automatically assuming that their significant other is available for a doctors appointment or too watch the children, to getting upset that their spouse is lazy because they are sleeping until 10am and in the same day mad that worked until 10pm — workaholic! There are also provisions for the right to request flexible work arrangements in workplace legislation. Flexible work arrangement assessments. Also, organizations need to appreciate people that are honest about how they spend their time, and defend people from work–shaming. Second, while flexible working has received a lot of attention, most of this has been on the implications of flexible working for individuals and their performance. CIO’s need to focus on providing a solid base work environment, provide training, and allow employees to work as they see fit. ... 57 per cent of workers said flexible work arrangements kept them at organisations and 54 per cent said inflexible … Handing schedules may become a huge problem:. Cultural change takes time and is happening slowly. People will think you aren’t working:. Employers are increasingly offering flexible working arrangements to all employees, not just those who fall into the categories specified in the fair work legislation, caused by a greater desire for work/life balance, advances in technology which make it possible for more employees to work from remote locations, and a desire to retain valued staff. Required fields are marked *. Since you are judged not by who sees you sitting at your desk when, the only measure becomes the quality of your work. Telecommuting refers to a job that’s performed remotely only part of the time. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Flexible work arrangements may not work for every employee. learn more about the Future of Enterprise IT, 6 Things You Need To Be Successful At Data Science. In fact, it creates a more competitive environment. First, part‑time working is often a more difficult form of flexible working to achieve than some other forms of flexible working, such as remote working and flexitime. However, today’s work trends are not without problems. ... How a flexible work arrangement will be supervised and evaluated. Creating a flexible work environment is not about embracing anarchy. Telecommuting. Not all tasks are performed easily off-site. Barrier: Not having the right technology. Research that we have conducted here at Cranfield School of Management, for instance, highlights that employees with flexible working arrangements often deliver better performance than those employees who work in more traditional ways. Difficult for office-based staff to work as effectively with telecommuting staff Security. Companies need to create an environment were users are encouraged to understand and explore technology and how it can be used. First, part‑time working is often a more difficult form of flexible working to achieve than some other forms of flexible working, such as remote working and flexitime. It is clear that the future of work is not command and control . What does the Post COVID-19 Landscape in business look like? This option is typically used when a job requires fewer than 40 hours of work per week. If anything, it’s gaining speed and employers who consider how remote work and increased flexibility fit into their organization and how they can meet the challenges of managing a more complex, hybrid workforce position themselves for success. Being vulnerable in a downturn. So why do we treat knowledge workers the same way we used to treat factory workers at the turn of the 20th century? Traditional Enterprise IT assumes that... 3. PART-TIME JOBS Part-time jobs are the most traditional of flexible scheduling options. Part-time working is the most difficult form of flexible working. Driven by both legislation and evolving employer attitudes, flexible working has come a long way over the past decade. Continue to communicate with all your employees. The trend towards flexible work arrangements isn’t slowing down. Flexible work requires a completely different style of management. Does the company have the culture to support flexible work arrangements? Traditional Enterprise IT assumes that users don’t understand technology, what tools they need, and will break the system if allowed. If the employer extends the benefits of full-time … It is important to talk with your employees about how to talk with their spouse and families about what having a flexible work schedule means. We have created a flexible work environment at CAN and here are several of the challenges we have experienced. This could include considering the operational requirements of the job, the need to attend meetings in person, how those with direct reports would manage staff and the role of an individual’s performance history in making a decision to grant a flexible work request. While, today’s trends and technology place a premium on quality and cleverness over efficiency: typically by creating flexible work environments. Flexible work arrangements can create quite a bit of spouse and family stress, especially if your spouse works at a more traditional company. The ATO did, however, have a lever to entice people who wanted a better work … But in reality, many employees work in teams—teams which may potentially include other flexible workers—where it is important for team members to be able to collectively co‑ordinate their work, relying on interactions with others to help them complete their tasks. Overcoming the challenges of flexible working, What can skeletons teach us about leadership. CAN Business Development Officer, Justin Trowbridge, Featured Bellevue Alumni. The Challenges of Flexible Work Trends 1. Her reduced schedule work arrangement means she can take one day off each week to care for her daughters. Common Challenges of Remote Work To start, managers need to understand factors that can make remote work especially demanding. This is unlikely to be the best way to gain the most benefit from flexible working, and also implies a penalty associated with changing working arrangements. If an employee has the ability to work remotely from home, they save time on … Set your voice mail, auto–responders and your calendar to let people know that you are unavailable because you are working on a project, family time, or just getting away from it all. But even if the benefits of flexibility are widely known, an understanding of how best to implement flexible working arrangements is crucial in avoiding difficulties. “One of the most common objections is the loss of ‘water cooler’ conversations,” Schneiderman explains. Teleworking is the most challenging of the flexible work schedules. Your email address will not be published. As flexible working becomes even more widespread, sensible employers will want to make sure that they do think through its implications. It is clear that the future of work is not command and control. Having a transparent assessment system so any employee can apply to work flexibly is important. What’s more, flexible working can also give rise to unanticipated consequences—both good and bad. Today’s companies are filled with engineers, designers and programmers instead of non-technical workers. She classified the various options into six categories, including: 1. If you are able to work all the time, then that becomes the expectation. Not least, of course, because flexible working can be  a rare ‘win-win’: something that benefits both sides, and at minimal cost. It all comes down to how clever do you need your employees to be. Flexible work trends have emerged because “scalability” allows organizations to realize large gains from ideas, instead of only operational efficiencies. She provides five guidelines for setting up a successful remote or flexible work programme that maximises the … And here at Cranfield, our research into flexible working practices has identified a number of areas which continue to challenge employers. In her presentation, Annie explained that flexible work doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Clearly, in order to maximise the benefits available from flexible working, employers need to pay attention to how different working arrangements will actually influence how a team operates. Working from home will actually make neighbours and friends feel like you... 3. It will be hard to succeed if your employees aren’t willing to learn about and use new technologies. It is simply agreed between the employee and his or her line manager that they will work remotely a day or two a week, or will arrive at work a little bit later, or leave slightly earlier to accommodate non‑work commitments. Sometimes, these are serious enough to create tensions, or adversely affect employees’ work-life balance—the very thing that flexible working is supposed to nurture. If you are able to work all the time, then that becomes the expectation. Consequently, the burden of making this flexible working actually work often falls mainly on the employee. Comments are off. They also need to understand the tools they need accomplish those tasks. Flexible work arrangement is alternate schedules or arrangements which are flexible or adjustable from the traditional working patterns. This can leave little time for family, decompressing, and creative work — especially stressful for introverts. The John Hopkins Centre for Health Security aptly described the African countries as being the least prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, despite flexible working becoming more widespread, its upsides may be counter-balanced by some unanticipated downsides. Flexible work arrangements offer a potential win-win for both job-seekers and employers, but making them run well needs trust and good management of several key issues, say the experts. The back-and-forth that happens as people come in or leave can be very distracting. However, with the government firmly behind facilitating flexible working for all, it is to be hoped that more employers will embrace flexibility for staff. Mobile Burnout. And, of course, by providing flexible working—whether that is in terms of where employees work, when they work, or how much time they spend working—employees can achieve better job and life satisfaction. Increased productivity. Each person’s performance has to be more accurately measured. Instead companies need to create a work environment around tasks and tools instead of command and control — learn more about the Future of Enterprise IT. Clearly, employers are taking notice, and many are making adjustments where they can to provide more flexible arrangements. Disadvantages of Flexible Work Schedules for Employees: 1. The increased need for social distancing, as well as challenges created by school closures, quarantines, and increased absences to care for dependents, present opportunities for us to be proactive, thoughtful, and creative in our consideration of employees working remotely. If you can work from anywhere any time, you need to set aside time to think, build deep relationships and just get away. She says there are ways to combat this, however. However, if you do make money from creativity having a well rested, engaged and equipped organization can produce large returns. Potential challenges of off-site work. Another … This is a terrifying environment for many people, and benefits only a few people that are self–motivated, clever and highly productive. Flexible work arrangement is alternate schedules or arrangements which are flexible or adjustable from the traditional working patterns. “Anything outside of work is dedicated to them,” she says. Cons or Disadvantages of Flexibility in the Workplace: 1. Learn how your comment data is processed. Because whether flexible working is in response to an employee’s care obligation, or simply a change in personal circumstances or preferences, it turns out that giving employees some choice over their working arrangements can pay dividends. Balancing flexible work arrangements among employees Maximizing flexibility for all proves one of the fairest methods of handling the challenges the pandemic has thrown at workers. However, as with so many aspects of people management, the devil is in the detail, and some organisations have found that implementing flexible working policies presents them with a number of challenges. Before rolling out a new flexibility initiative, the company participated in an Australian documentary following six men, including two Mirvac employees, as they attempted to adopt flexible work arrangements. 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