Flexible work: the first sale is to yourself!
You’ve probably heard the old sales adage “the first sale is to yourself”. In other words, it’s much easier to sell something to others if you truly believe in what you’re selling.
So if you’re looking to work flexibly and sell this idea to your current or prospective employer, it pays to have all the facts on why flexible work is not only great for individuals, but also great for organisations.
This will make it so much easier start a conversation about flexible work, and to put a compelling case forward.
So, how is flexible work good for business?
Isn’t it just a perk for employees that organisations are simply obliged to offer these days? Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. When flexible work is done well, there are huge benefits to be reaped by organisations. Here are some of the big ones:
Improved Productivity - Many studies have now shown positive correlations between flexibility, productivity and revenue. You might have heard talk in the media recently about the ‘4 day week’. The concept originated with a New Zealand based company, Perpetual Guardian, who implemented a 4 day work week in 2018 using the 100-80-100 model. This is, staff receive 100% of their contractual compensation, and work only 80% of the time, provided they deliver 100% of the agreed productivity. They called it their ‘productivity week’ experiment and it was a raging success. Productivity did not just stay at 100% with everyone working 4 days, it actually improved (and employee wellbeing, engagement and retention along with it)! This has become a permanent option for employees at Perpetual Guardian, and other organisations around the world are now experimenting with it. The ‘4 day week’ model isn’t the only way to improve productivity via flexibility, but it’s certainly an exciting example of what the future of flexible work could look like.
Access to Hidden Talent - Organisations who only hire for full-time, office-based roles are missing out on a hidden talent pool of highly skilled and qualified people, who only want to work part-time and/or from home. As well as parents, this can include groups like students, people with side hustles and professional athletes. While the work from home aspect has gone through enormous change in 2020, there is still quite a way to go with organisations realising and leveraging the benefits of part-time work. Many of the most forward-thinking organisations are getting on board with part-time though, from big financial institutions to small family-owned businesses.
Gender Equality - Flexible work, and part-time work in particular, is one of the most under-utilised levers we have for improving gender equality in the workplace. Research shows that companies with more part-time roles, including those at manager level, have better gender-balance at the executive level. Organisations across the globe have been struggling for years now with how to increase the ratio of Women in Senior Management roles, and this is absolutely part of the answer.
Wellbeing - Most organisations place a huge emphasis on employee wellbeing these days, including physical wellbeing and mental health. Options to work flexibly allow people to better manage work pressure, look after their health, manage carer responsibilities and spend time with loved ones. Not surprisingly, flexible work has therefore been demonstrated to have a positive impact on employee wellbeing, which in turn positively impacts performance.
How to prepare for a flexible work conversation
Having the facts about the benefits of flexible work is an excellent and very important starting point.
A few other things to consider as you prepare to have a conversation about flexible working arrangements are:
How will you make it work practically? What kinds of communication and handover processes will help? What role can your manager and team members play in this?
Are you willing to propose a trial period, after which the processes to make it work can be reviewed and adjusted?
Whose expectations will need to be managed (e.g. customers and internal stakeholders), and how can you and the team ensure they continue to have an excellent experience?
Having your own suggestions ready, as well evidence of how these questions have been answered in other teams and organisations, will demonstrate your commitment to making flexible work a success and increase your chance of negotiating the arrangement your after.
So, my questions to you now are:
Are you sold?!
And how are you going to prepare to have the flexible work conversation?