Workers Want Flexibility
Posted August 12th, 2013
In several high profile cases, news reports have told about companies ending their work-at-home programs and requiring employees to go to the office. One of the most talked about examples of this was Yahoo, which stopped its policy of telecommuting. Other employers doing the same include Best Buy and Bank of America.
Given that these actions seemed to reverse a workplace trend, there was and is a lot of debate surrounding the effectiveness of these policy reversals. And, for the most part, there is not much real information about the companies that offer these programs, which companies are using them, and how effective they are in attracting top notch employees.
A recent survey, however, showed that these kinds of flexible working setups are more the rule than the exception. More than four-fifths of those responding said they work at places that offer flexible working environments. These arrangements could be in the form of telecommuting or flexibility in when they report to work and leave work, flex time, compressed work weeks, and job sharing. This was the case for large and smaller firms alike and among non-profit as well as for-profit firms.
Another finding of the survey is that although women and men both use flexible working programs to the same degree, men generally choose an arrangement that does allow for more face-to-face interaction. In other words, both men and women used flex time programs in roughly equal amounts, but women used telecommuting much more than men. This could create a problem, however, because by telecommuting more, women may be denying themselves access to social networks and mentors they would otherwise have in order to advance in their careers. This is a detriment to the employees as well as to the company, which may lose out on some talented people.
The survey also showed that denying employees flex time also curbed their ambition to advance within the company. This again impacts the talent available to the company.
In sum, the survey revealed that flexible work programs are crucial for companies to get the most from their talent and become places where talented people want to work.
If your company is looking for the staffing flexibility that having temporary employees on assignment at you firm can offer you, contact Bayside Solutions. We can help your company find great IT professionals for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire opportunities at your company. We look forward to hearing from you.
