This week I’ve read countless articles about hybrid and flexible working and what it means for 2023.
To me, they miss the point.
Flexible working doesn’t mean that you work in the office Tuesday to Thursday and your company ‘allows you’ to work from home on the other two days.
True flexible working allows each employee to work in whatever way suits them best, as an individual.
Obviously, for this to be workable there needs to be absolute clarity on the goals to be achieved, as well as visibility on workflows and a high level of communication.
But who cares whether someone is sitting in a seat from 9-5 as long as organisational goals are delivered and productivity is optimised?
All the research has shown that giving staff the flexibility they want and became accustomed to over the pandemic makes for a happier, more effective and therefore more productive workforce.
For clarity, that doesn’t mean they should never come into the office. There are obvious benefits to being in the office when it comes to goal setting, learning, collaboration, and in some cases, mental health. For some employees, being in an office full-time is a preference, and that’s ok too.
But the future is about trust and respect.
It’s about putting aside ego to work collaboratively for the good of the business.
It’s about each of us bringing our unique skill sets to the table to deliver clear organisational goals.
But most importantly it’s about choice and working in whatever way we need to in order to have balance.
We are recreating the new world of work and we haven’t yet finished that reinvention.
Let’s make sure we don’t waste the opportunity.
