The Future of Work: 5 Reasons Why Flexible Work Arrangements are Here to Stay

Talks on introducing flexible work arrangement have been around for years, yet it took a global pandemic for it to be recognized as a valid and effective approach of work. While some people still look on it with suspicion, flexible work conditions have proven to be a massive benefit to employees and employers for numerous reasons. Here are five reasons why they are here to stay.

Higher Productivity

While many bosses worry that workers will not be spending their time working while unsupervised, the fact is that quality employees are equally motivated to perform well no matter where their office is. Choosing their own productive hours and forgoing the stress of commuting and dealing with co-workers can reduce stress, resulting in lower distractibility.

More Objective Performance Metrics

Historically, work performance has been measured by bosses visually supervising workers. This has led to the workplace phenomenon of ‘looking busy’. Flexible work arrangements relieve employees of the need to look busy – they are simply required to deliver finished assignments and projects on time. This gives your employees a feeling of autonomy, and a sense that they are trusted, which makes them feel more positive about their work and more motivated to perform.

Lower Capital Investments

With flexible work arrangements, business owners need not build, power, maintain, renovate, or staff offices for workers who telecommute. This makes startup time for new enterprises faster by orders of magnitude, reduces enormous amounts of business overhead, and a number of liability concerns as well.

Optimal Conditions for Creative Workers

While some workers may thrive in a shared office environment, creative workers require the freedom to work on their own time and choose where and when they work on a problem. Creative people like artists, writers, and designers often need flexible work conditions in order to think in the way that is natural to them. These people must feel they are trusted to do their work on time in their own way. They may get up in the middle of the night to work on a project, cram a whole work week into two days, or work every single day. Giving creative workers that kind of freedom can sometimes transform such people into hyper-productive dynamos.

Lower Turnover via Lower Employee Stress

Workplace stress is a leading contributor to low job satisfaction, internal conflicts, and turnover. Flexible work helps employees to be at their ease – and this helps them stick it out for the long haul, developing terrific experience in the process. In other words, it’s a great way to develop a well seasoned, highly experienced workforce – that is also loyal.