Four strategies to boost

Flexible work is in high demanded. In fact, a report from Apollo Technical found that 72% of workers would prefer working in flexible environments rather than the traditional office environment.

And organizations are seeing measurable advantages. Increased productivity by 47% and higher performance of employees ( 40% less faulty work) of work) as well as increased profitability (with an average of $11K savings per year for a half-time remote employee) This makes flexible working seem more like a necessity as opposed to a benefit for employees.

If you're considering how to design flexible work options or enhance the way your team can work remotely, you're in correct spot.

We'll discuss some of the most important aspects of flexible work. We'll also discuss evolving expectations for employees, and a few tips on how to future-proof your organization with video powered tools.

What's flexible?

Flexible work arrangements allow employees to choose the location and time they work. Research from SHRM suggests that increased flexibility for employees provides a host of benefits like higher engagement and retention, reduced overhead, and more time for family and work.
There are two types of flexibility in the workplace:

Flexibility in location

The flexibility of location allows employees to work from an office, or a specific worksite. Some common types of location flexibility include remote work, telecommuting, hybrid work and more. The 2021 survey by SHRM reported that 30% of employed Americans prefer the ability to do some form of remote work or hybrid work, and if the employers don't offer that option would search to find a job that has it.

Flexible scheduling

Schedule flexibility centers around employees' capacity to plan their schedules outside of the traditional five days a week schedule of 9-5. Some of the most popular types of flexibility in schedules include:

• Workweeks compressed
• Shift work
• Flextime
• Job sharing
• Part-time schedules

The way we work is changing

The US Labor Department reported more than 47 million Americans left their jobs in 2021 as part of an unprecedented massive workforce exodus.

From dentists' offices to fuel stations, worker shortages are making employers rethink how we see the job. 64 percent of employees who participated in a recent Pew survey reported feeling uncomfortable coming back to their workplaces and 57% opted to work from home due to COVID-related concerns. According to the Harvard Business Review reported that 36 percent of those surveyed would search for an alternative if not given the option of a remote or hybrid, and 6% were willing to quit outright even without a job scheduled.

The uncertainty in the economy, coupled with the changing labor markets and competitive expectations from employees is forcing employers to rethink the way and location employees work.

Promising data shows that flexible work can boost hiring, retention, satisfaction, and the productivity of employees.. Gartner found 43 percent of the respondents to their Digital Worker Experience Survey said that flexible work hours have made them more productive. Thirty% said the time saved from commuting boosted productivity.

4 tips to empower a flexible work environment

The workplace is evolving, onboarding, training, facilitation, and the leadership team will require training, virtual communication and engagement tools to help their organizations.

These are the four steps that will help you establish an effective flexible workplace to your employees. They will also set your team up for success.

1. Engage employees

Since your workers aren't congregating as regularly as within a typical 9-5 workplace, you have to find other ways to increase the engagement of your employees. 74% of employees report that they're more productive at their job in a workplace where they feel valued. 88% of the employees working at top companies in their industry feel heard while only 62% of employees in financially struggling companies are heard.

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Town halls that are boring can be bad however, live stream issues are even worse. An investment in high-quality video can yield enormous benefits in alignment of teams as well as employee engagement, productivity, and connection to help create a more flexible and cohesive workplace.

"We will not go back to the way it was. Video isn't just a COVID-19 option, it's a modern solution to the changing work place."  
 Peter Strella, Director, Communications & Creative Media Services at Rite Aid

2. Create a virtual onboarding process and training processes

While work is shifting away from office work, the training has also been undergoing a change in tandem. Despite remote working and perhaps due to it - onboarding and training have become increasingly essential. The majority of workers are onboarding by virtual meetings, and it is the responsibility of the company to develop efficient and efficient training programs.

"Technicians do not always wish to travel to our training centers, it's not a "one-size fits all" approach for our diverse population of learners...What we began to think about was use the same excellent classroom content and put it on the internet."   Steve Hamaday, Virtual Training Manager at Axalta

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3. Communication both external and internal

"With  our platform, we created a bi-weekly live broadcast for all of our clients, in the midst of a pandemic, in just weeks and not months. We handled the entire operation through the platform, co-operating via remote with our team and agency, and going live multiple times a week, in several languages."   Alvin Mudun, Senior Web Product Manager for Zendesk in EMEA

4. Make investments in remote collaboration

When your workers are scattered across multiple areas and time zones, your tools will determine team performance and even motivation.

Offering more options for using video could have an measurable effect on your team. 's State of Workplace Communication report found video-forward workforces benefit from a 75% greater percentage of employees reporting high engagement as well as better working together as a team. Collaboration is the ability to communicate with colleagues, and using video makes communication better and more inclusive through:

• Better employee engagement
• Increased productivity
• Anytime, anywhere.
• Increased transparency
• Training libraries that can be used for any purpose and resource

  Originally written by Clara Wang and updated by Bianca Galvez on July 26, 2022.