Are Flexible Work Arrangements here to stay?

Flexible work arrangements, the big question in the lives of every salaried employee and business is a continuous topic of debate. Is it good? Is it bad? Can a business function efficiently as it uses different work arrangements? This has been quite a fuss in the professional world, the post-pandemic world is giving us unlimited questions to answer. Choosing the right flexible arrangement can make a big difference for an employer and an employee. The Human Resources departments of all major league companies are using it as a tool to attract talent from the job market. Yet, picking up from Telecommuting, Remote Working, Condensed Workweeks, Customized Working Hours, Part-time Positions, Job Sharing and Flexible Vacation Time is not easy.

In recent times, technology has proven its worth. The recession hasn’t hit that hard. Companies are adapting to hybrid models of work. But still, a wave of skepticism hits when a full-time remote worker visits any financial institution for a Loan. The institution needs to know if the employee will get a bonus or what will be the career framework for this particular individual. Work arrangements are a hot topic in the Human Resources department but, is it a long-term solution to all HR problems, or with time as the pandemic fades away from the minds of people,  these work models will too?

So, I ask again what is the future of Work Arrangements?

As Deloitte addressed the impact of COVID-19, it talked about how the Future of Work is transforming our work, workforce, and workplace. It highlighted in a digital world, machines, and humans will be enabled to do what they do best independently and in concert with each other. Companies will challenge the idea that work should be performed in a specific physical location by exploring ways to digitize some or all work through advances in robotics, IoT, cloud, and other technologies. Future organizations will identify, attract and engage people with the right skills and experience to achieve their mission and purpose. An organization will be made up of many types of workers and will engage partners and other key stakeholders anywhere in the world. Continuous learning will support the upskilling needed across the workforce to address looming talent shortages. The future workplace will blend the physical and virtual environments and will deliver a consistent employer identity to all types of employees, contractors, and other stakeholders. Personalized experiences will empower people to be their best, balanced selves. Collaboration tools and platforms will support dynamic work locations and asynchronous collaboration.

At EY, they understand life’s challenges and complexities. They know everyone is juggling a career with priorities outside of work, and COVID-19 has made this even more of a challenge for many. That’s why they choose to support you in work, connect and collaborate more easily and flexibly. Whether it is the colleagues on a different floor, on a different continent, or completely virtual, they would help the employees to get their work done responsibly and flexibly while managing their busy life. They feel a global mindset can take you anywhere. They invite every employee to explore what mobility means at EY, from international relocations to programs that support cross-border experiences. Most of their people around the world continue to work from home as default and some of these programs may be paused because their first priority is the safety and well-being of their people and their clients.

Following extensive consultation with employees, PwC has announced to its 22,000 people changes to allow greater flexibility for post-pandemic working. Called the ‘Deal’, the announcement reflects the firm’s commitment to supporting its people and responding to changing working patterns accelerated by Covid. The changes will help embed a hybrid working model and align with PwC’s Net Zero commitment. The Deal is part of a workforce framework covering everything from learning and development to how our people can make a positive societal difference. It’s built on two-way flexibility and trust to meet the needs of teams, clients, and the firm. The three key elements announced were an ‘Empowered day’ - which gives our workforce more freedom to decide the most effective working pattern on any given day - for example, an earlier start and finish time; flexibility to continue working from home as part of blended working, with an expectation that people will spend an average of 40-60% of their time co-located with colleagues, either in our offices or at client sites; and a reduced working day on a Friday during July and August, with the assumption the majority of our people will finish at lunchtime having condensed their working week.

KPMG strategizes about workplace transformation in the wake of COVID-19 and is focusing on employee experience as it is essential to keep workers connected, engaged, and productive as they support critical business operations. New ways of working will become commonplace as it seems unlikely that we will see a complete ‘return to the office’. Hybrid – and more digital – models of working will predominate, meaning that firms will have to step up their technological enablement. A KPMG survey of personnel and clients 'ways of working was found to be the most important theme, with 55% of respondents placing it first. According to the survey, the top three company offerings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic were: increased flexibility (41%), the option to work remotely (39%), and more frequent communication (34%). As a result of workforces working from home, it is evident that there is an opportunity for some companies to find cost savings in the reduction of the need for office space.

American Express, one of the largest credit card companies in the world, has adapted to a more flexible scheduling model for its workers despite it having more than 50,000 employees globally. The company offers contract, part-time, full-time, and remote work opportunities, plus many positions including the ability to work from home if you’re a parent, you live a long distance from the office, or if unexpected events occur.

Dell, one of the largest computer and technology firms in the world, has been a pioneer in flexible work scheduling. Starting in 2009, the company has built up its Connected Workplace program that allows employees to work remotely some or all of the time, with encouragement to get the work done in whatever way suits the employee. The company says the program has grown in popularity, with 60% of its global workforce now taking advantage of flexible work.

As an innovator in internet technologies, it’s highly appropriate that search engine and privacy startup DuckDuckGo has a forward-looking approach to work. The company’s international workforce is trusted to “work wherever, whenever” to get the job done. So, if a worker needs to drop their kids off in the morning or take an afternoon gym class, it’s not a problem. The company says it uses multiple online tools to “connect and collaborate across time zones,” which ensures everyone is in the loop.

Sodexo has found over its decade-long journey toward optimizing flexible work. When the French food and facilities company first introduced its “Flexibility Works!” initiative back in 2008, employees had to submit a formal proposal just to ask for the option to work flexibly. But Sodexo soon realized that a rigid policy like that just didn’t match the goals of work flexibility. Instead, it introduced a new initiative called FLOW (Flexibility Optimizes Work). This practice allows employees to work with their managers on an individual basis to craft flexible work options that meet their unique needs. So whether someone wants to work from their home office or just needs to take the occasional afternoon off to coach their kid’s Little League team, the flexible culture empowers them to make it happen.

Machine learning company Appen discovered this when it conducted an internal survey of some of its team. Appen currently employs 350 full-time employees with flexible work options spread out across seven countries, and over one million global contractors who are 100% remote. What Appen found was that while the team liked the flexibility, it could sometimes leave them feeling isolated. To combat this, the company set out to create a more connected, collaborative culture. In 2017, Appen started investing in different tools that could make this possible, like video conferencing, instant messaging, and document collaboration solutions. It also built an internal community forum where employees can do everything from troubleshooting common issues to shooting the breeze and getting to know one another.

Google published it is moving to a hybrid work week where most Googlers spend approximately three days in the office and two days wherever they work best. Since in-office time will be focused on collaboration, your product areas, and functions will help decide which days teams will come together in the office. There will also be roles that may need to be on-site more than three days a week due to the nature of the work. Google is expecting 60% of Googlers are coming together in the office a few days a week, another 20% are working in new office locations, and 20% are working from home. 

Microsoft said it takes a thoughtful, research-driven approach to designing our workplaces and feels confident that we can still enable a collaborative, healthy, and safe environment with minimal changes required to our foundational design strategy of inclusivity. Microsoft standardizes inclusive design at our global work sites and we draw on the full range of human diversity to ensure every office space we create benefits people universally. Whether employees are working from home, at the workplace, or utilizing many of the outdoor collaboration spaces we have at our work sites, our approach seeks to create a sense of belonging and helps teams stay connected however they choose to work.

Amazon clearly stated that for their corporate roles, instead of specifying that people work a baseline of three days a week in the office, they’re going to leave this decision up to individual teams. This decision will be made team by team at the Director level. They expect that there will be teams that continue working mostly remotely, others that will work some combination of remotely and in the office, and still others that will decide customers are best served to have the teamwork mostly in the office. There are other types of roles as well, such as those working in our AWS data centers, and physical stores, and those designing, developing and testing new devices, who don’t have the flexibility to work remotely. They believe the best way to work together is to make customers’ lives easier and better every day.

So, as the trends of hybrid models are in play, Flexible Work Arrangements are here to stay. The only difference would be how they are incorporated into company human resources policies. It is an outstanding tool to attract the right talent and also, will explain if the company is employee-driven or customer driven. Though, companies are slowly understanding the value of happy employees. But, business is all about customers. If the work gets done efficiently and effectively, from where should it matter? Something to ponder on… 

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Sanna