Flexible Working Policy
Introducing A Flexible Working Policy To Your Company
A flexible working policy is an alternate arrangement from a traditional scheduled work day or week. Many companies are switching over to this type of policy, allowing their staff to develop an ideal schedule to work around personal or family needs. These are ideal for working professionals who have family obligations such as putting their child on the school bus or being there after school when they get let out.
Benefits
Aside from the great benefits that a flexible working policy offers the employees, the employer actually reaps some high rewards as well. It is proven that a staff that is able to tweak their arrival and departure time while staying in the guidelines, offers substantially less absenteeism and tardiness.
A flexible working policy empowers employees to better manage their personal responsibilities which in return results in a professional who is more satisfied at their job, creative, energetic and less stressed. Employers offering this desirable policy are able to attract and retain more experienced, satisfied and productive employees.
Considerations
Regardless of what type of policy you enforce for your company or how many options you offer, there are a few things that you need to make sure you take into consideration. Duties, deadlines and expectations must be outlined by the supervisor very clearly and then agreed upon by the employee. This is best done in the form of a handbook with a signature sheet so there is no question about anything in the future. Other start up considerations include:
- Additional administrative duties
- Scheduling meetings so everyone is able to attend
- Making sure that customers demands are met
- Managing the variance in the workload
Example
Although your flexible working policy that you create for your employees may differ from someone else, you will still have a core set of working hours outline. For example, you may allow your employees to arrive to work between 7:00 and 9:00 AM and then allow them to leave between 4:00 and 6:00 PM. By doing this, it is established that everyone must be there and working between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
Introduction To Your Company
Introducing a flexible working policy to your company and employees is very exciting. You have already decided that it will be very beneficial to all parties involved but the transaction needs to be put into effect with clear expectations.
- Ground Rules – It is extremely important that you establish a set of ground rules so that every member of the staff is totally clear about what is expected of them. This will cover how long they are expected to work each day, break times and meetings. When scheduling meetings, be fair and give your employees an adequate amount of time to rearrange their schedules if they are not held during normal business hours.
- IT Needs – If your flexible working policy is enabling employees to work more from home, discussing equipment that they may need to connect to the office network may be necessary.
- Management Evaluation – A staff with a lot of freedom must have strong leaders who are capable of staying in contact with everyone and keeping abreast of what their staff is working on at all times. They must feel comfortable addressing poor work performance.
- Encourage Feedback – It is important that managers and employees are encouraged to offer feedback on the arrangement. Most companies find it helpful to have a comment box rather than expect their staff to communicate with them in person. This is especially beneficial for new hires.
- Awards – Sometimes staff can get a little too relaxed with a flexible working policy so it is often a good idea to offer small awards for exceptional sales performance, etc to keep everyone motivated even when they are not in the office.