Benefits of flexible working on wellbeing, culture, and profitability

Employee demands for flexibility and its benefits

The growth in hybrid and remote working since 2020 has had a significant impact in raising the profile of flexibility in work, raising challenges for organisations in responding to demands for flexibility from employees, but no doubt offering new opportunities in retaining and getting the best out of employees. In fact, recent evidence suggests that a majority of workers indicate a preference for more flexibility over their hours of work.

Flexibility has the potential to deliver multiple benefits, although the nature of these benefits does vary considerably. Working from home provides benefits to work-life balance through better enabling workers to manage work alongside the rest of their lives and is associated with higher levels of productivity. Organisations, meanwhile, additionally benefit from cost reduction, as they’re able to rationalise, reorganise, or in some cases close, workplaces. Flexibility also offers several common benefits including increased employee job and leisure satisfaction, and greater inclusivity, as it offers enhanced accessibility for those who may find employment in standard working arrangements difficult eg, due to caring responsibilities or disability.

Flexibility as dimension of workplace well-being

A focus on flexibility also has a more strategic benefit when we consider that flexibility is a core dimension of workplace wellbeing. Workplace wellbeing is a concept that overlaps with that of job quality but is more comprehensive in its coverage and can be defined as the quality of life associated with the experiences and conditions of work in our jobs. In my recent book, Wellbeing and the Quality of Working Lives, I outline a framework for workplace wellbeing comprised of six dimensions (see Figure 1): job properties (the nature and content of work), rewarding careers (career development, reward and recognition), physical space and activity (our working environment and our interaction with it), relationships (profession and social networks and conflict at work), giving (our propensity to help and give to others), and flexibility (flexibility and balance between work and the rest of our lives).

The effects of workplace wellbeing manifest in multiple ways including levels of employee job satisfaction, motivation, engagement, work-related stress, productivity and performance, organizational commitment, presenteeism and absenteeism, and employee turnover.

Figure 1: The Framework for Workplace Well-being (Source: Wheatley, D., Well-being and the Quality of Working Lives, 2022)

Ways to enhance employee flexibility

Key to generating positive organisational outcomes is the adoption of a holistic approach to improving employee job quality that responds to all dimensions of workplace well-being and flexibility is key in this mission. To successfully implement flexible working policies, organisations should:

• Put in place appropriate policies, processes and resources to support flexible working.
• Establish a workplace culture in which both employees and employer understand that to be successful flexibility has to work both ways, including managing expectations around how time is split between employer workplace and home, hours of work, and delivery of outputs.
• Use flexibility as an enabler of workforce diversity by tailoring working routines to individual needs, while ensuring that routines are coordinated to fit into the wider organizational context.
• Issue good practice guidance for maintaining physical and mental health when working flexibly.
• Provide the correct and relevant equipment for employees working from several locations.
• Establish social and work-focused connections within teams via regular formal and informal meetings to co-ordinate activities and support relationships among employees working distinct patterns.
• Where appropriate, adapt the physical employer workplace environment with a focus on collaborative use enabling formal and informal connection, working in hybrid formats, eg, hybrid meeting facilities, and also providing concentration spaces.
• Move away from one-size-fits-all strategies toward strategy that is flexible and has a focus on enabling a tailored approach offering employees flexibility and agency in decision-making, while effectively communicating the constraints of different business areas and considering the needs of all stakeholders.