Providing Workplace Flexibility

“We worked from home for 18 months, learned how to be more efficient, and figured out how to streamline things. We got good at Zoom, then realized early on we could cut back on face-to-face meetings by reviewing some information through email. Now our boss wants us back in the office. Really? After all this time, now we need to be watched?”

Post-Pandemic, employees have come to expect a more accommodating workplace. After having considerable control during shutdowns over the three key components of workplace flexibility—where, when, and how they work—they are finding the loss of that flexibility hard to take. Being asked to return to the office either full or part time can feel like having to give back all of the flexibility employees managed successfully during office closures.

In fact, data from Future Forum, a research consortium co-created by technology company Slack and Boston Consulting Group, indicates that the loss of workplace flexibility increases stress and anxiety, disrupts work/life balance, and increases burnout. It is also creating high levels of distrust between employers and employees due to the rationale underlying return to work policies. As reported by Jane Thier for Fortune, 87% of employees say they are more productive in remote and hybrid models, while 85% of employers say it’s difficult to have confidence in their workers’ productivity levels when they are not in the office.

Realistically, providing total flexibility is possible for few organizations, including hybrid ones. And when you have no choice but to require that your employees return to the office, you lose much of your ability to provide flexibility for where and when they work. You do, however, have the power to offer employees and teams flexibility in how they work by granting more autonomy in the workplace. Giving them this flexibility can have a profound impact on their engagement, satisfaction, and well being and can mitigate the downsides of not being able to control when and where they work.

Your goal should be to embrace employees’ diverse approaches to “how” they accomplish their work while also ensuring that they can do so within the group’s or organization’s established standards and quality.

Here’s how to get started:

– Allow employees to apply their diverse and unique customer and organizational insights, experience, technical acumen, and knowledge to get the job done.

– Avoid micromanaging them to produce within a predetermined framework.

– Make room for a variety of approaches and novel solutions that create new best practices.

– Reward creative and innovative thinking that reinforces positive behavioral changes.

– Trust that each employee will complete the work on time and to quality standards.

Granting employees the autonomy they want is not an all-or-nothing process. Managers need to individualize autonomy based on an employee’s skill level, capabilities, and past experience, while setting clear expectations for future success.

All this requires planning, organization, and cooperation; but the payoffs are profound for employees, including:

– More flexibility and greater ownership of the work they do

– Ongoing development of additional skills

– Opportunities to offer new, effective, and creative solutions

– A sense of being valued

– Increased well being and less burnout

So how do you get there? Leading with Autonomy^®, a targeted program from BE GREAT LLC, helps leaders understand and grant autonomy. It offers tools they can use to take their teams on the journey toward greater flexibility at work, while maintaining or growing productivity, accountability, and quality for both workers and customers. Visit us at www.begreatllc.com