Now more than ever, U.S. workers expect to be able to have a balance between work and life. Work hours and demands on employees have increased, while family and personal demands have remained the same, if not increased, as well. As a result, many people are choosing to exit the traditional workforce to start companies and work for themselves in order to create a flexible schedule.
[See: The 6 Best Jobs for Work-Life Balance.]
If you are trying to figure out the advantages and shortcomings of flexible work arrangements today, this interview with Sara Sutton Fell, CEO and founder of FlexJobs, will give you a good idea of the flexible work landscape and what to expect in 2017.
What are the biggest changes you’ve witnessed in the flexible job market over the last five years?
There have been tremendous shifts in terms of when, where and how people are working, and in the last five years we’ve seen a big increase in flexible work options, both being offered by employers and being sought by professionals. We’ve seen a shift towards more part-time opportunities for professional-level jobs, such as part-time executive directors, part-time marketing managers and part-time technical project managers. But remote work has dominated the wish list for professionals seeking better work-life balance. In our annual “Super Survey” on flexible work, telecommuting has topped the list of the most desirable form of flexible work in all five surveys.
Finally, in 2015, the millennial generation surpassed baby boomers and Generation X to become the largest generation in the workforce. This is a group of professionals who see flexible work as a standard way of working, rather than a perk. So they really have the potential to truly shift the view of traditional companies that may not offer formalized flexible work to offering better flexible work options.
[See: 7 Companies With Perks That Will Totally Make You Jealous.]
What types of programs have companies developed to better adopt and define flexible work arrangements?
When we hear of companies successfully implementing flexible work options, the thing they all have in common is that they’ve designed their programs to suit the needs of both their workers AND the company’s business goals.
Some companies, such as Dell, offer robust remote work programs and encourage their employees to telecommute as much as possible (going so far as to set goals like having 50 percent of their workforce be remote by 2020). Other companies, such as PwC, offer a wide-ranging flexible work program, which includes reduced hours, flextime, telecommuting, job-sharing, compressed workweeks and sabbaticals.
Which approaches to flexible work arrangements have been less successful?
In our experience, when we see a big-name company decide to stop its flexible work program, or bring all its telecommuters back into the office, it’s the result of a couple key failures:
— Informal programs were adopted on a wide scale without proper oversight, usually due to a lack of training for managers on working with flexible workers, and lack of buy-in from top-level management.
— The flexible work options offered weren’t tied to business goals or any formal strategy, and the results of letting people work flexibly (productivity, reduced absenteeism, increased loyalty) were not tracked. Only 3 percent of companies actually track the return on investment of their flexible work programs, so we strongly encourage more companies to start doing this!
[See: Tips for Surviving a Career Transition.]
What do you foresee for 2017 as areas of growth for the flexible job market?
Sixty-three percent of workers say they expect that the standard eight-hour workday will be obsolete and 68 percent said they expect to work remotely instead of commute to an office every day (according to a survey by PwC). So we also expect to see more flexible scheduling and even more remote work!
Additionally, freelance opportunities are growing, so employees who hold traditional jobs should consider what the freelance job market may hold for them. In fact, over the past decade, the number of people doing freelance and contract work has risen by almost 10 million people, as reported by The New York Times. What workers really need to do is learn more about what it takes to be a successful freelancer, so they can set themselves up to be in a good position, should they decide to go down that path.
How do you think companies can do better in order to successfully adopt flexible work arrangements?
The most significant thing a company can do as it adopts flexible work arrangements is to first understand what their workers ultimately need and want out of flexible work. Not everyone wants to work from home, and not everyone wants flexible hours. Once a company has listened to its workers about which flexible work options work for them, their next step should be to develop a program that ties that information to business goals and the bottom line, so that the company can also benefit from flexible work. This way, the incentive is there to make flexible work a long-term, strategic investment by the company, rather than a quick decision that isn’t taken seriously.
So what’s your next step? Find out what opportunities exist in your current company, and if they don’t exist, and no changes are afoot there in the short term, you can look for external opportunities that provide you with the flexibility you need. The range of flexible work options is broad, as it should be by definition, including part-time, flextime, telecommuting, job-sharing and compressed workweeks. Figure out what makes sense for you and what companies offer those options and proceed from there.
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Flexible Work Trends: What Can We Expect in 2017? originally appeared on usnews.com
