Managing Workplace Flexibility

Author: Neil Rankin

Updating Author: XpertHR Editorial Team

Introduction

Workplace flexibility can help make the most of today's diverse workforce and reduce skills shortages. Embracing workplace flexibility benefits employers in a number of ways, such as:

• Taking into account employees' preferences, interests and non-work responsibilities. In addition, some employees have the legal right to request flexible work arrangements. Acknowledging employees' rights and preferences aids in increasing employee motivation, productivity and overall engagement.
• Helping to attract, recruit and retain top candidates and valued members of the organization.

When developing workplace flexibility options, consider making flexible work arrangements as available as possible to the entire workforce.

This guide discusses the importance of workplace flexibility, the issues involved in developing and implementing an organizational policy and the main types of flexible working arrangements, including part-time work, variable hours, flex-time, job sharing, remote work, compressed hours, shift-swapping, hybrid work arrangements, career breaks and sabbaticals.