Benefits of flexible working hours for employers

How does flexible working benefit employees and employees? What are the benefits of flexible working? Who really benefits more from flexible working?

Allowing employees to work outside of your normal hours make for a more satisfied clientele. Other benefits of flexible working hours include increased employee engagement, better quality of new recruits, and increased innovation and creativity within the business.

Benefits of flexible working for employees. With flexible work schedules , employers experience benefits as well. Giving up some control of work schedules gives increased employee morale, engagement, and commitment to the organization.

The option also reduces employee turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness by allowing workers to flex hours around home and family obligations. Compressed workdays or workweeks: These policies usually involve working longer for a given period of time and then having an extended period off, for example working four 10-hour days and having a three-day weekend. Big sporting events can bring on requests for time off or flexible work days.

So, let’s take a look at the benefits of flexible working hours for employers , in particular in relation to SMEs and employing students and graduates.

Another popular flexible working arrangement is “Remote Working ” or “ Working from Home”. Other types of flexible working include Job sharing, part time, annualised hours and staggered hours. The main benefit of working flexibly for your employees is that it gives them the chance to fit other commitments and activities around work and make better use of their free time. Flexible working : benefits for employees. Adrian Wakeling, senior policy adviser, looks at the key messages for employers.

In many workplace settings, it is hard to distinguish idle chit-chat from meaningful dialogue. The majority of these businesses () will look to introduce remote working on a regular basis, will introduce permanent flexible working arrangements, will introduce part-time hours in the office, followed by introducing flexi-time, looking at offering compressed hours and a further implementing term-time working hours. Remote work options and flexible hours can also cut out a lot of commuting hours , allowing employees to incorporate physical activity into their lives or take a break when they feel burned out.

Equally it can also blur the work and home divide and for some lead to work intensification. This may be fuelled by individuals feeling the need to pay back to a company for accommodating their needs. Allowing flexible working in your business comes with some remarkable, and often surprising, business benefits. Employees can be more productive Increased productivity is a significant benefit for businesses who choose to allow their employees to work on shift patterns that fit around other life commitments.

This can in turn reduce stress and anxiety for employees, who are struggling to balance their busy lives. It can help enable employers to avoid redundancies. There are likely to be reduced sick days.

When staff members enjoy flexible work arrangements, they are likely to be less tired and better reste reducing the risks of fatigue, burnout and stress.

Offering flexible working to employees can boost staff morale and improve their physical and mental well-being. As a result, they will be able to give their all on a daily basis. Studies have demonstrated the importance of flexible working arrangements for older workers. People choose to work fewer hours or fixed working patterns to allow themselves to take on caring responsibilities in the family, to pursue voluntary or leisure activities, or simply to make work more manageable. By allowing flexible working hours, employers are also free to introduce agile working in the form of staggered hours and alternative shift patterns to become more ‘available’ to customers, even outside of business working hours.

Employee well-being is a key concern for many managers as it impacts retention of key people. One clear advantage to a flexible work schedule is the ability to arrange your workday around personal obligations. For example, instead of working the traditional a. A boost to morale helps with levels of absence and can improve productivity.

Different working hours and the extended use of technology might even mean your employer can offer extended hours , services or a greater range to clients or customers. Employees who decide their hours of arrival and departure to work are more relaxed. This increases the morale within the employee. We’ve discussed before the importance of setting boundaries in flexible working policies and managing by outcome in order to mitigate the potential for people to work more than if they maintained regular hours.

The sooner employers understand the importance of employee work-life balance, the sooner they will benefit from a happier, more productive workforce. Any employee who’s worked for you continuously for at least weeks is entitled to make a flexible working request. An employee is only entitled to one flexible working request every months.

This prevents employees chopping and changing their work patterns excessively.