Ten tips to make a success of flexible working

Ten tips to make a success of flexible working to mull over as there is a renewed sense of optimism for staff who are looking to a future of flexible or “hybrid” working.

It’s an exciting time for businesses who are exiting “survival mode” are looking to embrace the new normal. The trend for businesses is not “how do we go back to the old way of working” but rather is this our opportunity to learn some positive lessons from the past year and break out of the traditional 9-5 model.

So what will this new exciting future look like?

Not every industry will be able to shift to a remote, nor would want to, with industries such as manufacturing and distribution always needing a majority of staff, on site. The new normal will clearly look different for every business.

The question is how can technologies and practices adopted over the course of the pandemic be used to drive businesses forward in a period of growth. To the benefit of both staff and company leaders. The past 12 months has demonstrated the ability of organisations to adapt and clearly, there is optimism about the return to the workplace as people recognise the positive social drivers for going into the office.

Over the pandemic many businesses now see that a mixture of working from home  with a few days required to attend offices is the way forward. So lets look at some tips to make this a success:

Ten tips to make a success of flexible working:

1. Open and honest communication –  foster trust and engagement through organisations through regular and honest communications.
2. Ensuring working teams are scheduled in the office collectively- schedule team members to be working in the office on the same days. Collaborative working will help spark the new ideas business needs to gain a competitive advantage.
3. Adapting working hours- A return to the workplace doesn’t have to mean a return to rigidity. Allowing employees the flexibility to adapt their start/end times to suit their needs if in the office.
4. Book a Desk-  implement desk booking services to ensure an easy and safe flow of workers in and out of the premises and allow teams to arrange their schedules in advance.
5. Reports on flexible working- keep a close eye on productivity in and out of the office via the normal systems and provide regular reports in order to change and adapt again if needed.
6. Equipment management- us a cloud based system to order and track employee equipment. Making them as portable as possible.
7. Encouraging the use of annual leave- Making sure that employees use holiday time and not flexible time as their “downtime”!
8. Reassess your office space -Ensuring the office is future proofed for hybrid working-: Are you set up to accommodate a mix of remote and on premise workers? Do you need as much space? Audit what you have and adapt. Others are.
9. Social activities- ensure that office or virtual based days still ensures that each employee, regardless of location, is receiving the same level of engagement.
10. Fostering a team mind set- make every effort to keep a team mindset at the centre of all you do. Use cloud based systems to help facilitate a flow between office and home.

What will this new normal look like? Have a read. Check out some of our flexible jobs on our job search page and our advertised jobs on Reed. The future looks bright… lets get everyone working!