Flexible working is fast becoming the new normal for many industry sectors. Although the COVID-19 pandemic and successive lockdowns have led to a recent rethink on flexible working across the board, a less rigid approach to the 9-to-5 has long been sought after by parents. In the case of households where both parents are in employment, flexible work schedules are highly desirable. Flexible working not only alleviates childcare pressures but can also benefit employers.
Many employers have now released that flexible working patterns and home working models have no impact on productivity. In fact, in many cases, these models can yield improved performance. If you're eager to embrace a new workplace culture and facilitate flexible working, there's plenty you can do to avoid productivity pitfalls and ensure you're getting the most out of your employees.
Why Promoting Flexible Working is So Important
Although flexible working is old hat for some organizations, many businesses are now only awakening to the benefits of this model. By allowing for flexible working, you're demonstrating to working parents that you understand domestic commitments don't always adhere to a typical 9-to-5 timeframe.
Employers mustn't overlook the vital role that working parents play in business. In the United States, parents make up around 40 percent of the overall workforce. It's no surprise that childcare arrangements play a key role in employment decisions. If you're keen to avoid your employees reducing their hours unnecessarily or resigning their posts altogether, you must support flexible working.
Simply allowing your employees to start their working day an hour later can have a huge impact. By allowing freedom to handle the school run, you can eliminate interruptions to a standard workday. Remote working provision is even more effective, eliminating the additional disruption of long commutes and allowing working parents to provide emergency childcare in the event of sickness or unexpected school closures.
Flexible working also has long-term benefits. Parents who are having to juggle lengthy commutes, chaotic school runs, and continued childcare are likely to experience significant levels of stress in the workplace. This not only impedes performance but can also lead to premature burnout, forcing employers to rehire.
Flexible Working and Performance Reviews
If you're considering introducing flexible working as a standard business model, you'll need to have a great deal of trust in your workforce. If you have significant reservations that an employee won't be able to fully commit to flexible working, it's unlikely to be the right path forward.
However, employers also need to reorient their thinking when it comes to monitoring flexible workers and conducting performance reviews. Many employers in flexible working roles often feel that standard performance reviews are structured against them. One of the chief concerns is that flexible and remote working positions rarely offer the same career development opportunities as conventional, office-based roles.
One of the best things that employers can do is avoid aggressive monitoring of workers based in remote roles or those adopting a flexible schedule. If your workforce isn't physically based in an office, it's tempting to be overbearing when it comes to monitoring hours. Rather than grabbing onto this metric, focus on actual output instead.
It's also vital that you can maintain clear lines of communication with any employee working remotely or flexibly. Most importantly, make sure you're explicit regarding expectations to ensure everyone is on the same page. When drafting KPIs, be objective. This way, performance reviews will be fairer across the board, demonstrating no bias towards employees adopting a more unconventional work schedule.
Make Sure Managers Understand the Importance of Flexible Working
Managers will play a key role in supporting flexible working within your organization. Therefore, managers must be provided with proper training. A good management style will ensure working parents feel adequately supported to adopt a flexible working pattern. More importantly, it will discourage negative judgments from being fostered and shared among employees elsewhere in your business.
Managers should be empathetic, making it easy for working parents to engage in conversations about flexible working. By providing your managers with the right training, you'll ensure they're fully versed in the expectations of working parents, as well as the challenges a working parent typically faces on any given day.
Celebrate Working Parents and Offer Structured Support
Although most businesses in the United States provide no paid leave for no parents, many organizations actively encourage new parents to take maternity leave after the birth of a child. However, the lack of paid leave can have a detrimental impact on staff retention. In the US, it's estimated that as many as 17 percent of women leave employment within five years of giving birth.
If you're eager to keep hold of long-serving employees, there's plenty you can do to encourage staff retention of new parents. Maintain clear lines of communication with parents who have temporarily left their positions to illustrate they are still valued members of your team. Doing so will help combat the impression that having children is a barrier to continuing in their position and pursuing new opportunities with your business.
If you've made allowances for flexible and remote working, there's a good chance you can entice parents back to work more quickly than if they were expected to return to an office-based position. Whatever the specifics of their new role, make sure your employees have structured support in place ahead of their return.
Overhauling Workplace Culture for Working Parents
A productive workforce is one populated by employees who feel valued. Working parents often feel they are neglected by employers, with the domestic demands poorly understood or completely disregarded. Embracing a change in workplace culture can help overcome these misconceptions, encouraging working parents to thrive in their roles.
Flexible working is, without doubt, the easiest way to foster a positive environment for parents in full and part-time employment. While remote working is the obvious option for supporting a healthier work-life balance, flexible working can still yield big benefits for employees and employers alike. Simply allowing your teams to adjust their start and finish times can lessen the impact of family obligations, allowing your employees to fully commit to their roles.
Making provisions for flexible working isn't just important for supporting parents in employment, it will also increase your appeal as a desirable employer. What's more, you can limit employee turnover and ensure you're retaining the most valuable members of your workforce.
Latest posts by Michael Dinneen (see all)
- A Guide for HR Departments to Managing Flexibility for Parents - February 13, 2022
