Things You Should Consider Before Implementing Flexible Working Hours In Your Company

It’s been a couple of years since flexible work arrangements have become a hot topic in the business world. The COVID-19 pandemic has further put these alternative working styles in the spotlight.

So, if you were wondering whether to follow new trends and implement flexible working hours in your company, here are things you should consider first:

Why Should You Do It?

A flexible working style offers benefits for both workers and business owners. A study conducted in 2018 found that 80% of employees would rather choose to work for a company that provided the option of flexible hours, even if the wage is lower.

Likewise, employees that have been given such freedom tend to work more. This phenomenon is called gift exchange theory and is basically your employees feeling grateful for the respect and trust you’ve shown them.

Challenges You Will Face

The transition from the traditional working style is bound to bring some problems. Here are four main trouble spots and how to overcome them:

  • Not including your employees in the planning process. Seek your workers’ opinions on the matter. Is the new working style suitable for their position? Your employees’ input is significant because you will learn how to address their personal needs and your company’s needs at the same time.
  • Upper management might not be on board. When you propose a change to flexible working hours, try to educate and highlight many benefits your company will reap from this change.It also might be helpful to choose one department and have it switch to flexible working hours for a trial period. Show the results to your bosses.
  • How to control and supervise your employees. It might be best to make a new evaluation system. Start measuring your workers’ performance instead of working hours. You can use tools like nTask or Producteev.There are also many programs that help you keep track of your employees during working hours, such as All Hours or Time Doctor.
  • It might be challenging to work as a team with multiple schedules or from separate locations. That’s why you need to provide the necessary tools for your team to communicate online — Slack, Zoom, Skype, and others.Still, this might not be enough. You will probably have to determine core hours to ensure everyone is present during important meetings.

Conclusion

If you introduce flexible hours in your company, you will undoubtedly face teething problems and complications. But in the long run, you will create a happy, loyal and productive team — and benefit financially in the process.