As the working environment becomes more and more complex, teams are pressured to be increasingly accountable, productive and collaborative. However this doesn’t mean that they’re willing to give up all of their time for the company. Instead, people are demanding flexible working hours which will allow them to continue living their life without the constraints of office life holding them back.
According to a recent survey by Ernst & Young Global Generations, in particular millennials – the generation of people which spans the ages of 20 to the early 30s- would change jobs or careers, give up promotion opportunities, move their family to another place or take a pay cut to have flexibility and better manage work and family life.
If businesses fail to meet these demands, they risk losing valuable talent and falling productivity. On the other hand, by offering increased flexibility, businesses can help millennials and non-millennials alike feel as though the company is supporting their needs. Employees will feel happier and more engaged – and as a result will be more productive.
Following these tips will help you implement an effective flexible working policy and engage your team no matter what their age:
Assess your tools: Businesses need to start thinking about implementing changes to their IT infrastructure and consider the types of solutions their staff require regular access to. They can begin by conducting an audit of all the software programmes the business currently uses and evaluate how many of these solutions can still be used by staff remotely. Businesses may want to consider giving employees the freedom to use their own laptop, tablet and smartphone which they may well find more convenient and easier to use to get the job done quickly.
Create an office in the cloud: Having a disparate working force can provide a challenge when trying to create a sense of ‘one team’ and coordinate projects that involve multiple people all based in different locations. By establishing virtual offices online, teams across time zones and geographies can collaborate, communicate and stay up to date seamlessly – regardless of their whereabouts.
Be safe: There will always be some element of risk associated with implementing any technology online, but simple measures – such as implementing two-step verification and recommending that employees change passwords regularly, choosing uncommon and hard to guess combinations and selecting a different password for each website can ensure they safeguard their information – can minimize the risk.
By checking that office security is up to scratch and everybody understands their role in keeping data safe, as well as investigating the tools employees use, businesses can ensure that they and their remote employees are kept safe throughout their working day – regardless of location.
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