Flexible and part-time working works – not only for employees but also for businesses. Here are the top 6 reasons why your organisation should embrace more flexible and part-time work within your workforce.
1) Part-time employees are more productive. You know the productivity crisis we all read about – you could solve it by reducing your employees’ hours. In Scandinavia, 30-hour workweeks are standard. According to Trainual, countless studies have shown employee productivity peaks at about 30 hours per week. So, not only do these countries have happier, healthier populations due to better work-life balance, but, as Trello explains, Norway is also the second most productive country in the world. British Telecom also reported a 30% productivity increase among its flexible workers, according to Unison.
Parkinson’s Law describes how it can be more productive in fewer hours. The Lifehack website defines Parkinson’s Law as the amount of work expands to fill the time available for its completion — meaning that if you give yourself a week to complete a two-hour task, then (psychologically speaking) the task will increase in complexity and become more daunting to fill that week.
Think about yourself on your last day before a week’s annual leave and how many more tasks you typically complete than on a regular day. You’re so much more productive because you have a deadline and know you can’t waste time procrastinating. It is like that for part-time workers (particularly mothers) every day. They can’t waste any of their days on Facebook or similar. The option to stay late and finish something isn’t available because they have a hard finish time to pick up children. They have to ensure they complete all their work within the available time.
2) By advertising your vacancies as open to flexible working patterns, you appeal to a broader talent pool. According to the CIPD, 87% of employees want to work flexibly, increasing to 92% for young people. The desire to work flexibly is, therefore, felt by more than just mothers. Flexible working could encompass part-time working patterns, job shares, working from home, term-time working, and staggered start and finish times, to name only a few. All of these are more family- and environmentally friendly. Increased home-working allows you to recruit from a wider geographical area and is more inclusive for candidates with disabilities who may struggle with a commute. By appealing to a broader group of talent, you’re more likely to get the absolute best candidates for your vacancies.
3) Organisations can offer better customer service. According to Unison, some employees prefer to work outside traditional hours. Businesses can, therefore, accommodate their customers at times that suit them.
4) You increase staff retention. According to HR Magazine, employees who work flexibly report increased levels of job satisfaction. Satisfied employees lead to lower staff turnover. Lower staff turnover reduces recruitment and training costs. The CIPD says that higher levels of engagement, experienced by working flexibly, can reduce staff turnover by 87%.
5) There is less staff absence. A recent UNISON survey showed that sickness reduced from 12% to 2% amongst those who worked flexibly.
6) You outperform the competition. The CIPD tells us that Flexible working supports more diverse talent pipelines within organisations and helps improve board-level diversity. As some global analysis shows, companies with diverse boards outperform their rivals. Gender-diverse leadership teams also deliver an 18% return on equity premium. McKinsey adds that bridging the UK gender gap in work has the potential to create an extra £150 billion on top of business-as-usual GDP forecasts in 2025.
More flexible and part-time work makes business sense. If you don’t embrace it, you risk missing out on the best talent and losing hard-fought-for profit to the competition. I can’t stress this point any clearer – diversity works, and flexible working increases Diversity and Inclusion, as well as female talent in your workforce.
Do you agree? How do you think the Covid crisis will affect attitudes toward flexible and part-time working in the future? Please let us know by filling out the contact form on our Contact Us page. We love hearing your ideas on how to increase workplace diversity.