Flexible working in the modern workplace – what does this look like for everyone?

Over the past two years, it has become evident that one’s place of work no longer holds as much value as it did, it’s rather about what you do. Having flexibility in a job is a desirable factor for many now more than ever, as well as having the autonomy to fulfil your responsibilities wherever (and whenever in some cases). Ensuring the work ‘gets done’ and remaining committed to one’s role and contribution to the wider organisation is at the heart of flexible working, which is something that we at TSI have prioritised in our own experience of working a 4-day week for around three months now.

The idea of flexible working and that people could fulfil their job outside of the workplace was not a widely shared opinion pre-pandemic. For example, many companies could not understand that people could be just as productive working from home as from the office. Nevertheless, the past two years have evidenced that flexible working can work and is a reality for thousands of the UK’s workforce. Not only this but, they and their employers have experienced real benefits from such, from boosting productivity to increasing cost-effectiveness to having a work/life balance.

Whilst support for flexible working and ‘work’ being viewed less as somewhere you go every day over recent years, some people do still find value in having a place of work and an environment that clearly defines ‘work’, whatever this may look like. For example, remote working during the pandemic was beneficial for many and some saw improvements to their work/life balance while others struggled with working from home and lost their distinction between work and home life. This is where flexibility and trust as an employer and understanding the differences in how people work come to the forefront. But who else apart from the individual is to say what working arrangement works best for them. Rather, having the autonomy to choose how you work and if it is found to be the most effective and productive then why should one be limited?

Will flexible working ‘work’ for you?

It’s fair to say the level of trust pre-pandemic to now has increased between employers and employees. Interestingly, whilst companies hire people to do a job without seeing how they work, companies held more concerns about allowing existing employees to work remotely and outside of their normal remit. Questions around whether to trust employees to carry out their work if they are not in the office or place of work and how it could impact their productivity have been answered throughout the pandemic and the current, emerging world of flexible working. Whilst many would advocate for flexible working and its benefits compared to pre-COVID, what may work for one person may not work for another. So, it is more dependent on the nature of the role, the individual and how it fits in within the organisation they work for. We are seeing increasingly more organisations in favour of flexible working and is a conversation we often have with our clients and as a result, more inclusion of questions around flexible working in our surveys and I’m sure is something that we will continue to cover. Flexible working can also help improve employee wellbeing, more of which you can read on our recent blog on “How employee wellbeing and a sense of belonging is critical for your business”.