Often, work may feel that it exceeds the limits of 9 to 5. As a result, employees now value their time more than ever.
In September 2011, a survey reported that 51% of 18- to 44-year-old U.S. working adults plans to look for a new job with an employer that offers flexible work options. So how can employers and companies benefit from offering flexibility?
A recent report published by the When Work Works initiative of the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reveals that higher overall flexibility is associated with more employees reporting high job satisfaction and engagement.
The report goes on to cover different industries, company sizes, and level of workers in order to debunk outdated perspectives about providing flexible work hours for employees. Consider the findings below:
1) Employees who have flexibility will take advantage of it
- 11 percent of employees with access to daily schedule flexibility use it several times a month or more
- 70 percent use it once a month or less
- 19 percent never use it
2) Employers are less flexible because it costs too much
- 8 percent of large employers (500 or more employees) said the costs of flexibility or limited funds was an obstacle to flexibility
- Less than 32 percent of small organizations said the same thing
3) Offering flexibility to low-wage employees isn’t worth the investment
- Low-wage employees with low flexibility are more likely to be less satisfied and less engaged with their jobs than higher-wage employees with similar levels of flexibility
- When offered at least moderate workplace flexibility, low- and higher-wage employees show similar levels of job satisfaction and job engagement
Both employers and employees must realize that providing and asking for flexibility is not trading productivity for personal pursuits, but rather, creating an environment where both can be equally attained.
Do you agree that employees produce better results when given flexible work hours? How can employers provide flexibility?
