Originally we wrote this blog in 2019, it was pre-COVID-19 and talked about how flexible working patterns can help businesses, we truly believed that work flexibility would be a key to future working practices. Who would have known back then what global chaos was in store for us all! So we have re-wrote this blog to incorporate some of the radical changes that COVID-19 has forced us to take. A lot of these changes we were advocating pre-2019 and now we are coming out the other side the Government seems to be pushing to get people back into offices, however, we are now seeing a hybrid situation, where a lot of businesses are splitting hours between the office and home. Let's have a look at all the positives and negatives of this and the things we have learnt.
Pre COVID Ideas
We started the original Blog talking about technology changing our world as we know it, completely altering the way people can and want to work. Technology was changing how businesses ran but it was also changing the perception of how people wanted to work. Social media was shining lights on forward-thinking companies back then with great employee-focused concepts and for sure, flexible working was a part of the mix. This flexible style of employment had taken inspiration from the start-ups of the Silicon Valley Boom where they were treating their employees very differently. The new inclusive way seemed to galvanise employees with purpose, commitment and the general vibe of working hard and getting results, but having fun doing it! They were more like a tribe on an exciting mission than just individuals turning up to work, trying to get through a day's grind. The changes looked exciting with engaging modern working environments with pool rooms, table tennis, coffee stations and chill out bean bag areas, this usually ran alongside flexible hours and the ability to work from home or in different environments like your local coffee bar. This all grew in our consciousness, we all wanted to work for an amazingly flexible company like that! Somewhere cool, enjoyable, but with goals and a defined purpose! Not an easy job, no, but a job that motivates you and treats you with trust and investment in return for all your hard work. It is quite ironic that the instigators of this work culture and this flexible working are the exact same companies that were building the technology to allow us to move forward with flexible working methods.
Soon companies outside of Silicon Valley started employing this type of ethos in their working environment to attract top talent. This way of working gained traction outside of the tech sector with many diverse companies employing the company ethos and flexible working patterns of those valley startups. Companies like Zappos Shoes, Warby Parker and Moog Music, with many more companies pre-pandemic looking at this positive work culture concept so they could attract the right calibre of people to their business.
Flexibility The Key
In the crisis of COVID-19, we found that flexibility was the key to the solution. We were using Zoom in 2019 but to think everyone under the sun would be moving to this service in such a small space of time would have been an astonishing thought pre-pandemic. But when plunged into a crisis, humans have this amazing ability to find tools to meet the challenges they face. Video conferencing was a big tool that fixed a problem and now people are seeing the benefits of this form of communication, also, the limitation of it too! After all, not every solution is perfect, but mixed in the right way they can move us forward and improve our communications and working environment.
Companies have had the chance to test out the benefits of people working from home, which they would not have tried without the crisis. They can now see in real terms the financial benefit, flexibility and productivity of it all. Working from home became a new norm, now we have all had time to figure it out. We now know what can and cannot be achieved with homeworking, who likes or dislikes it, the technology we need, and the systems we need to support this. We have come out of this with far more knowledge of what does and doesn't work and having the ability to build successful hybrid working solutions companies would not have imagined pre-pandemic.
The Agile Workforce
There is another part of flexible working that we feel will be the key to the transformation of our economic recovery and growth. This is the curation of a truly agile, flexible workforce that can support and bolster businesses as they rebuild. It seems that a high element of homeworking will be one of the ways forward to ease people back into a restructured working environment, but there are other forms of flexibility that we have been talking about for a while. A workforce that is a truly flexible one, built of highly skilled contract and temporary workers, working from home and connected by the best technology to integrate with any company at the drop of a hat.
In the post-COVID-19 world we live in, to build strong businesses we will need this type of flexibility. It will be essential to have highly skilled people being able to move fast within the business environment to help with future growth. This type of solution was starting to slowly gain popularity before the crisis, we have been shouting out about this since 2018. Informing people to look at a flexible workforce in a different light to the past perceptions of it. Considering you can connect to the internet pretty much anywhere on the planet these days, this solution looks to be a key to our economic transformation.
Summery
So let's put all this information together! Below we are going to go through some of the benefits we talked about previously regarding flexible working for employees and businesses. Then we will add some notes about how we are looking now in hindsight and how a true Flexible Workforce could be a major strength for everyone going forward.
Pre-COVID-19 Take On It The Benefits Of Flexible Working:
Home Woking
Back in 2019 according to Inews, almost half of people in the UK weren't happy in their job and did not have a good work-life balance. Potentially, companies that promoted a flexible working system have the ability to improve people’s well-being in the workplace, thus making them a more desirable employer.
Although working from home can potentially cause distractions, it can also have the ability to increase productivity. This is not only great for personal development, but it will also build a trusted relationship between employee and employer. On the negative side, If you work from home every day, the structure between home and work could decrease and this could reduce the work-life balance, this is something to be aware of. So, having the option to work from both the office and home, could ensure the best of both worlds. I think from our original post we have seen this prediction play out with positive effect over the last 3 years.
Reduction In Travelling Costs And Fuel Emissions
Obviously, if more people worked from home this would be a benefit to the environment, your time and pocket, we are all now seeing the impact this can have. Promoting flexible working is great for your staff and the environment.
Enhances Company Image As a Family-friendly Place To Work
Competition is fierce for top candidates, so seeing a company promote positivity in the workplace with a good work-life balance and benefits will make any company look attractive.
Alternative Ways For Flexible Working
Not everyone likes working the typical 9-5 these days, so, having the option for people to choose their hours would allow them to work at full capacity for longer. Introducing flexible working for your employees would do so much for a company and its staff. There is so much pressure in all aspects of today's society, so it's important that people feel valued and rewarded, benefits like flexible hours will not only increase happiness but obviously, it will boost company growth too!
All the above concepts were written pre 2019. With this in mind let's now look at the reality of it all Post COVID!
Benefits Of a Flexible Workforce Post COVID-19
In 2019 a large percentage of employers (46%) used agency workers for ‘traditional reasons’, a growing number of businesses were hiring temporary and contract workers with the hope of transitioning them into permanent roles, with 64% of respondents from a CareerBuilder study saying that this was their ideology behind using a flexible workforce. So we have a foundational past use case, but moving forward this can become very tactical for businesses in how they recruit and grow.
Agility
Being able to move faster with projects will be key, having a pool of skilled flexible contract workers that can just plug in and go is a real plus point. It would let you experiment and innovate within your business more freely.
A New Way Of Thinking
Bringing highly talented fresh people in from outside the company, coming from a contracting background can often spark new ways of working which can have a knock-on effect on the rest of the company. You can use these strengths to be more creative and innovative. Also, if you mix this in with a flexible work approach for existing employees you with find the perfect productive sweet spot for all your workers.
Talent Scouting And Retention
By offering an environment suited to a flexible workforce, employees are more likely to find the talent they need. They have time to see what a person can actually achieve. Then you have a chance at retaining that talent if they are a good company fit. This all adds to building a great company reputation, which in turn will allow you to continue to attract the right additional staff.
The Perfect Mix
Once you have assembled and structured your workforce, be that a mix of the flexible workforce or not, it is time to use what we have experienced over the last few years to your advantage. Providing a positive work culture is the best way to attract and keep a highly-skilled workforce. Flexible working environments from home and office really work well for the right people. Flexible hours, investment in training and a positive work culture all add up to your company being a fantastic place to work. This has been proven over the last 3 years, and if you what to get the best from your employees then all these concepts should be considered.
Conclusion
As we can see there are so many benefits of being a flexible forward-thinking company pre and post COVID-19. Taking all these strategies, mixing and matching them to create the perfect blend of working going forward can only enhance your company in terms of productivity and culture.
Our Vision Of a flexible Recruitment Solution
As a business we recognise the future role of traditional office work will change forever and we have searched for options to add value to our service offering when supporting clients; this had led us to release Prestige Remote 360, the complete secure remote workforce solution. We combine highly talented flexible workers with the security of a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, making this really simple to integrate talented people at all levels into your business seamlessly and safely. More information here….