Four strategies to boost

Flexible working is in high need. Indeed, a study from Apollo Technical found that 72 percent of people would prefer working in flexible environments rather than a full return to office.

Organizations are also seeing tangible positive effects. The productivity has increased by 47%, higher employee performance ( 40% fewer defects in the quality of work) and increased profits (with the average of of $11K saved/year per halftime remote employee) This makes flexible working appear more of a necessity as opposed to a benefit for employees.

If you're considering how you can design flexible work arrangements or improve how your employees can collaborate remotely, you're in the correct place.

In this article, we'll look at some of the essential elements of flexible work, shifting expectations of employees, as well as some suggestions on how to ensure your business is ready for the future by using tools powered by video.

What is flexible work?

A flexible working arrangement allows employees to choose which locations and hours they will work. Research from SHRM indicates that flexibility in employees provides a host of benefits including higher retention and engagement with less overhead as well as better work-life balance.
There are two kinds of flexible work:

Flexibility in location

Location flexibility allows employees to work without a main office or designated worksite. The most common forms of location flexibility include remote work, telecommuting, hybrid work and more. The 2021 survey by SHRM found that 30% of employed Americans would like the possibility of working from home or doing any type of remote work in the event that their employers don't offer that choice, they'll look for a company that offers it.

Flexibility in scheduling

Schedule flexibility centers around employees' ability to organize their work hours outside of the standard five days per week schedule of 9-5. Some of the most popular types of schedule flexibility include:

• Compressed workweek
• Shift work
• Flextime
• Job sharing
• Part-time schedules

The way we work is shifting

The US Labor Department reported that more than 47 million Americans quit their jobs by 2021 in an unprecedented massive workforce migration.

From dentists' offices to fuel stations, worker shortages are making employers rethink how we see the workplace. 64% of workers from the recent Pew survey felt uneasy coming back to their workplaces and 57% chose to work at in their home because of COVID-related issues. In the Harvard Business Review reported that 36 percent of those surveyed would search for an alternative if not given the option of a remote or hybrid, and 6% decided to walk away even without a job lined up.

The uncertainty in the economy, coupled with the competitive labor market and shifting expectations of employees are forcing companies to consider the way and location employees work.

Recent research shows that flexibility at work boosts employee hiring, retention, satisfaction, and productivity. Gartner found 43% of respondents in the Digital Worker Experience Survey said flexible working hours made them more productive. Thirty percent said that the time they saved by not having to commute boosted their productivity.

4 tips to empower the flexibility of your workplace

The workplace is evolving the onboarding process, training management teams, as well as enablement require virtual communication, training and engagement technologies for their workplace.

Below are some tips to create an effective flexible workplace for your employees . These tips will prepare your team to be successful.

1. Engage employees

Since your workers aren't congregating as regularly as in a traditional 9-5 office environment, you need look for other methods to increase employees' engagement. 74% of employees say they are more effective in their work in a workplace where they feel valued. The majority of employees in top companies in their industry feel heard while only 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies have a sense of being heard.

Everything you need to know about town halls

Learn to live stream your next town hall.

Town halls that are boring can be bad, but glitchy live streams can be even more frustrating. The investment in quality video means exponential returns on team alignment as well as employee engagement, productivity, and connection to help create a more flexible and cohesive workplace.

"We won't return to how it was. Video isn't a COVID-19 solution It's a more modern approach to meet the demands of the modern work place."  
 Peter Strella, Director, Communications & Creative Media Services at Rite Aid

2. Design a virtual onboarding and training processes

When work shifts from office work, the training is transitioning along as well. Despite remote working and perhaps due to it, onboarding and education have grown increasingly important. The majority of employees have been onboarding via virtual sessions, and it is the responsibility of the company to design efficient and efficient programmes.

"Technicians do not always wish to travel to our training centres, and it's not a 'one-size-fits-all' for our diverse population of learners...What we began to think about was take the same great educational content from the classroom and made it accessible online."   Steve Hamaday, Virtual Training Manager at Axalta

The go-to guide for virtual courses

Increase the size of your remote team quickly by following this comprehensive tutorial.

3. Internal and external communication

"With  our platform, we created a bi-weekly live broadcast for all of our customers, during a pandemic, in just weeks, not months. We handled the entire operation through the platform, co-operating online with our team members and agency, and going live several times per week, across multiple different languages."   Alvin Mudun, Senior Web Product Manager for Zendesk in EMEA

4. Consider investing in tools that facilitate remote collaboration

If your employees are spread out across locations and time zones, the equipment you employ will determine team productivity and motivation.

Offering more options for using video could have an measurable influence on the team. 's State of Workplace Communication report revealed that employees who are video-oriented have a 75% higher percentage of employees reporting high engagement, and they are more effective at team collaboration. Collaboration is the ability to communicate with team members, and video makes communication better and more inclusive by:

• Better employee engagement
• Productivity increases
• Unlimited content available anywhere and at any time
• Increased Transparency
• Training libraries that can be used for any purpose and resource

  Originally written by Clara Wang and updated by Bianca Galvez on July 26 2022.