Shawnee Love   •  
June 7, 2010

The majority of Canadian households no longer have stay-at-home mom’s to take care of all the family “stuff” like taking kids to soccer, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, buying birthday presents, chauffeuring aging parents to doctors and lawyers, finding a lost pet, dealing with a burst water pipe, etc. but the responsibilities didn’t go away. Employees are more stressed than ever trying to deal with what is going on in their personal lives and at the same time perform at work. It is why work-life balance has become the Holy Grail that most employees seek and unfortunately few find. Employers that understand these challenges and offer their employees flexibility to help them manage their personal life (while still maintaining good performance of course) are getting amazing loyalty from their employees.

Flexibility is valued by employees from every generation.

Because flexibility is valued by people at every age and stage in the workforce, while the reasons for needing flexibility may differ, the end result is the same- employee retention.

Companies that can be flexible with hours of work (part time vs. full time, varying start & end times), schedules (4 X 10 hr shifts vs. 5 X 8 hr shifts, split shifts), benefits (additional vacation instead of salary, options for benefit packages), and work location (telecommuting) amongst other things are also discovering this flexibility is a competitive advantage when hiring employees.

Being flexible can mean a bit more work up front ensuring you have the infrastructure (policies, tools & equipment, etc.) to manage, but companies will reap the rewards in the long run. For example, with the cost of rent getting higher, offering laptops and the opportunity to telecommute can enable companies to save money via reduced office space. Additionally, if you can be flexible with hours of work (e.g., your employees come to work and leave as needed as long as they are present for core hours AND meet their goals), you get people who are focused while they are at work and extremely committed to ensuring they get their work done in their allotted time. And I have also seen an increase in the number of requests for additional vacation instead of a higher salary from new hires, so flexibility can be a power tool to attract great candidates as well.

One final important point is that flexibility requires a culture of trust and managers capable of managing a diverse, ever-changing environment. Whether you are working towards these or already have them in place, offering flexibility can differentiate your company from your competitors.

If you have a great example of flexibility at your company, share your comments.