Four ways to supercharge an environment that is flexible for work

Flexible work is in high need. Indeed, a research by Apollo Technical found that 72 percent of people would prefer working in flexible environments rather than the traditional office environment.

And organizations are seeing measurable benefits. Increased productivity by 47 percent increased employee productivity ( 40% less faulty work) of work) as well as increased profitability (with the average of 11,000 dollars saved per halftime remote employee) This makes flexible working look more like a requirement rather than a perk for employees.

If you're considering how to create flexible working options or how you can improve the ways your team can work remotely, then you're at the appropriate place.

In this article, we'll look at some of the important components of flexible work, evolving expectations for employees, and a few tips on how to ensure your business is ready for the future using video-powered tools.

What is flexible work?

A flexible working arrangement allows employees to decide where and how they work. Research from SHRM indicates that flexibility in employees offers a variety of advantages such as higher engagement and retention with less overhead as well as more time for family and work.
There are two types of flexible work:

Flexible location

Location flexibility allows employees to work without an office, or a specific working location. Some common types of location flexibilities include remote work telecommuting, hybrid work and more. A 2021 SHRM survey reported that 30% of employed Americans prefer the option of doing any type of remote work, and if their current employer doesn't have that choice, they'll look to find a job that has it.

Flexibility in scheduling

Flexible scheduling is about employees' ability to organize their work hours outside of the standard five days per week 9-5 work schedule. Some of the most popular types of flexibility in schedules include:

• Compressed Workweek
• Shift work
• Flextime
• Job sharing
• Part-time schedules

Our work methods are changing

According to the US Labor Department reported over 47 million Americans quit their jobs by 2021 as part of an unprecedented massive worker departure.

From dental offices to gas stations, the shortage of workers is forcing employers to reconsider how we see the job. 64% of workers from a recent Pew survey felt uneasy coming back to their workplaces and 57% chose to work at the comfort of their homes due to concerns about COVID. According to the Harvard Business Review reported that 36 percent of the workers who were surveyed would search for alternatives if they were not offered the option of a remote or hybrid while 6% of respondents decided to walk away regardless of whether a new job was lined up.

The uncertainty in the economy, coupled with the changing labor markets and competitive employee expectations are forcing businesses to rethink the way and location employees work.

The latest research suggests that flexibility in work boosts employee hiring, retention, satisfaction, and efficiency. Gartner found 43% of respondents in the Digital Worker Experience Survey said flexible working hours made them more productive, and 30 percent said that the time they saved from commuting boosted productivity.

Four tips for creating a flexible work environment

With the changing workplace and the workplace evolves, onboarding, education, enablement, and leadership teams will require training, virtual communication and engagement technologies to help their organizations.

Here are four tips to create a successful flexible work environment for your employees . These tips will set your team up for success.

1. Engage employees

As your workers don't gather more frequently than within a typical 9-5 office environment, you need to come up with other strategies to increase employees' engagement. 74% of employees believe that they're more productive in their work when they feel heard. 88% of employees at leading companies are heard while only 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies feel heard.

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The boring town halls can be a problem, but glitchy live streams can be even more frustrating. The investment in quality video will yield exponential results in alignment of teams and productivity, engagement of employees as well as connection, which can help create a more flexible and cohesive workplace.

"We will not go back to the way it was. Video isn't just a COVID-19 option but a contemporary solution to meet the demands of the modern work environment."  
 Peter Strella, Director, Communications & Creative Media Services at Rite Aid

2. Develop a virtual Onboarding and learning process

When work shifts from offices, training has also been undergoing a change as well. Despite remote working or maybe because of it - onboarding and learning have grown increasingly important. Nearly 97% of workers are onboarding via virtual sessions, and it's up to the organization to design efficient and efficient programmes.

"Technicians do not always wish to go to our training facilities, so it's not "one-size-fits all" for our varied group of learners...What we began to think about was take the same great class material and made it accessible on the internet."   Steve Hamaday, Virtual Training Manager at Axalta

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3. External and internal communication

"With  the help of bi-weekly live broadcast for all of our customers during a pandemic, in just weeks and not months. We handled the entire operation on the platform, collaborating via remote with our team and agency, and going live several times per week, in several languages."   Alvin Mudun, Senior Web Product Manager for Zendesk in EMEA

4. Make investments in remote collaboration

If your employees have to travel across different regions and time zones your tools can make or break team productivity and motivation.

Incorporating more methods to utilize video can have a measurable influence on the team. 's State of Workplace Communication report found video-forward workforces benefit from a 75% greater percentage of employees reporting high engagement and are better at working together as a team. Collaboration is the ability to communicate with team members, and video makes communication better and more inclusive by:

• Better employee engagement
• Increased productivity
• Unlimited content available anywhere and at any time
• Greater transparency
• Easy-to-use training libraries and resources

  Originally created by Clara Wang and updated by Bianca Galvez on July 26, 2022.