The Future of the Work Place: Flexible Working is it Here to Stay?
During COVID workers have largely been working on a more flexible schedule, which allowed them to work more flexible hours and locations. For many people, this flexibility offered a far better work-life balance as it allows people to match their workdays with everything going on around them. Of course, not everyone is fortunate to be offered this flexibility, but it poses the question of whether this approach should be kept in a post-covid world.
The concept that the only place we can work is an inner-city office block seems like a ridiculous notion after the past year. If the pandemic has taught us nothing, it is that many jobs can function almost equally as well at home as they can in an office. Moreover, it will become increasingly difficult for employers to justify the necessity of commuting into the city centre merely to work in an office when employees have proven capable of doing the work remotely. Previously, we were convinced that the only place we can work is in the office, this may have been due to equipment in the office or merely habit and formality of office roles.
Where do people want to work?
Working from home has had a very mixed response. For many, it’s a spectrum, while some people hate it and some love it, many of us like the flexibility it offers. Before COVID 68% of workers never worked from home, in fact, only 19% worked at home some of the time while only 13% were able to work at home full-time (according to YouGov). Part of this will be because many people didn’t think it was possible to do their jobs from home, surprisingly most office works have found they are able to do their jobs equally as well from home. Many of these people were forced to work from home, so how many people still want to work from their home long term? According to YouGov, only 18% want to work from home all the time, while 39% want to work from home some of the time and 39% never want to work from home. Only a small percentage of people wish to work from home all of the time. Employers need to consider how they can offer people flexibility about where they work.
How can workplaces accommodate flexible working?
Most people appear to want at least the option to work in the office either some of the time or full-time. Employers need to consider if adopting a flexible work policy that allows people to come into the office for meetings and other in-person activities will replace their previous working policy. This way employers will be given the opportunity to decide where they work, for many this will give them more time around work to foster a better work-life balance.
Flexible working equally benefits employers, many workplaces are trading their large inner-city offices for smaller premises with hot-desking in place. The allows them to make savings on office space, or re-direct finances to help the employee achieve better work from home set-ups. Many workers would prefer to change their large offices for smaller local offices, where they can save time on their commute but still reap the benefits of a separate dedicated workspace.
Additionally, the concept of allowing employees to have more flexible hours goes hand in hand with flexible work locations. Some companies are adopting an approach whereby people work core hours, such as 10:00 am-4:00 pm, but outside those hours they can either choose to start earlier or later. This gives workers agency to fit their working day around their life, which again provides a better work-life balance.