Making a Case for Flexibility

Since founding, On-Ramps, a recruiting and consulting firm focused on flexible work arrangements, my partners and I have been very impressed with the general receptiveness to alternative work among organizations of all types and sizes. In each of our target industries (financial services, management consulting, media and non-profit), we have worked with organizations that are open to the idea of unconventional full-time, part-time, and project-based roles. It appears that the old-fashioned norm of all-day everyday on-site work is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

When working with new clients, we first assess what types of flexible work options are currently in place. Quite often, these initial conversations stall, as management puts a defensive barrier around the idea that anyone could ever be productive or successful while working flexibly. However, once we get deeper into these conversations, much of the resistance fades. Below is a discussion of the main sources of resistance we regularly encounter, and our recommendations for overcoming them.

What is flexibility anyway?

Issue: Organizations do not understand what flexible work is. Flexible work can mean different things to different people. That said, all too often, flexible work is synonymous with part-time work. While there are, of course, many ways that part-time work can be an excellent solution to a business challenge, there are many other forms of flexibility that can be used to recruit, incentivize and retain staff.

Solution: A clear definition of flexible work and the cases in which a particular arrangement may be applicable need to be explored. We begin our dialogues with a comprehensive description of the many types of flexible work and the up-front acknowledgement that some structures will work for some roles and not for others, and that certain roles will not lend themselves to any kind of flexible work arrangement at all.

Is my team really working?

Issue: Management worries that it will not be able to monitor employee productivity if employees are not in the office 100 percent of the time.

Solution: Work needs to be defined in terms of measurable output, rather than time spent in an office. One of our favorite, most flexible clients has moved away from face-time entirely. Rather, each and every role is defined and evaluated based on performance against clearly defined, measurable goals. For instance, if a staffing manager is evaluated based on the number of qualified candidates he can deliver for an open position, then the amount of time that staffing manager spends sitting at his desk becomes irrelevant. In fact, we would argue that a manager who cares about the amount of time that an employee is spending at his desk is oftentimes using this as a proxy for a true performance metric. Defining success based on a desired result metric frees all parties from over-reliance on face-time.

Hey, that’s not fair!

Issue: There is concern about the fairness of allowing only a subset of employees to work flexibly.

Solution: Clear parameters around the types of roles where flexibility may be appropriate and the requisite performance to earn them need to be openly discussed and defined. Again, we point out that every kind of flexibility does not make sense for every kind of role. That said, if objective criteria are laid out for the cases in which a particular type of flexibility might apply, a perception that special deals are being handed out on an ad-hoc basis will likely subside. Specifying the roles eligible for flexibility, however, is only half of the solution. It is also critical to set objective performance targets that need to be met in order to earn the right to work flexibly. In essence, this practice sets the stage for using flexibility as an additional type of compensation – and a much less costly one than cash – to reward high performers.

Examples of flexible working

• Telecommuting – Working off-site, either partially or completely.
  
• Compressed work week – Completing 40 hours of work in less than five days
  
• Flex-time – Earning incremental time off for working beyond a full-time schedule within a given time frame.
  
• Part-time work – Working a reduced schedule.
  
• Project-based work – Working for a specified amount of time or on a specific assignment, enabling employees to enter and exit the work force seasonally or as other commitments allow.