Thinking of creating a flexible working environment at your company? Whether it’s remote working from a virtual office or altering work schedules to fit around commitments, for both employee and employer, there are distinct advantages of flexible working that should be considered.
What does flexible working mean?
Flexible working refers to allowing employees the ability to alter their own work schedule, or working environment, to suit them. This can include:
- Altering work schedule – this could be coming in at 10 and leaving at 6 or working around appointments/picking children up from school. This could also refer to working from home when needed.
- Remote working – this would be the case if the business had a virtual office space and employees worked from home, whilst having this space as the registered business office.
Benefits of flexible working
Having flexible work arrangements with your staff is a great way to not only provide them with a sense of control and responsibility for their own work but also allow them their own space away from the work environment.
Some of the many benefits of flexible working include:
- Ability to meet family needs – whether that’s personal appointments, ensuring the kids have someone to pick them up from school or generally support your life admin, flexible working can allow the work life balance to work harmoniously alongside one another.
- Avoids traffic and rush hour – whether you’re working from home for a remote office, or even just altering your hours to work 10-6 instead, a big benefit of flexible working is avoiding that rush hour traffic. Instead of sitting on a cramped train or bus, work to your own time and avoid spending unnecessary time commuting into work!
- Reduction on fuel/commuting costs – and as well as missing out on the surge of people getting in for the 9am meeting, you also reduce your fuel and commuting costs by working from home. Or even leaving in off-peak traffic times can significantly reduce your time on the road, and your fuel consumption.
- Increased control over schedule – allowing employees to work from home or remotely can give people much more responsibility and allow them to feel in control of their own work. If they have to take an hour out of the day for a doctor’s appointment, or to pick the kids up from school, with flexible working, they’d be able to fill that time later (or earlier) in the day – giving them the flexibility of their own schedule.
- Fewer distractions – whether it’s the chatty work colleague or the office politics of a working environment, generally working from home – or remote working – is likely to provide fewer distractions. This is due to the fact the employee creates their own working environment tailored specifically to them, which can then lead to an increase in focus of work – which is inevitably best for work productivity!
- Lower levels of stress – sometimes being right in the epicentre of the work environment can lead to an increase in stress levels. With the ability to work from home, or alter your working hours, it allows employees to take themselves out of the situation and allow them a breather before reacting to stressful situations.
- Reduces tardiness and absenteeism – if an employee is feeling unwell, it can often be the thought of the travel into work that can cause them to call in sick. Yet, with the option of remote working and working from home, not only tardiness is reduced, but also the likelihood of employees calling in sick, too.
Need some guidance on the best ways to manage a remote team? Grosvenor House is always on hand to provide help and support. Find out more about our virtual office solutions in the heart of Birmingham city centre today – or contact us directly for more information.