Does Flexible Working Suit Your Business?

Does Flexible Working Suit Your Business?

Recent events have shown the advantages of home working, including more family time and less commuting, so expect requests for more flexible working. Whilst this looks like one more problem for you to juggle please try to look for the positives. For example, less permanent office staff could mean smaller premises, smaller car parks, smaller canteens, and so on, all leading to a reduction in overheads.

Home working can have a downside, as human beings are social animals, and the lack of physical contact can be a problem for some.  This means you will need to organise group meetings or, possibly, social functions so everyone feels engaged in your business.

Some industries, for instance the creative sector, have suffered with home working as a lack of physical meetings have hampered their innovative work.  This is because ideas don’t ‘bounce’ off people in the same way over a Zoom meeting.  As a consequence, many want most of their staff back in the office full time in order to give their clients 100%.

Now this makes for a conundrum – how do you get people back to the office when schools and public transport aren’t functioning at 100 % capacity and it is difficult to see this being sorted for quite a while yet.  As a business owner we think you will have to be patient and operate a ‘give & take’ policy for many weeks to come.

One other influence, to be considered as we go forward, will be the green agenda as the reduction in pollution has been apparent to all of us over the last weeks.  If we want to make a better future, and prevent more global warming, we must use this crisis to effect change.  My view is the government may look to change employment legislation, to encourage more flexible working and reduce commuting, as part of the way ahead.

Why not use this crisis to take the lead and make your own positive changes in how you employ people.  What this means for you, the business owner, is you will need to be prepared, backed by evidence, when you are talking to members of staff about who can and who maybe can’t, work from home even on a part time basis.

Remember, you are not alone, we are here to help you formulate the plans and gather the evidence for your business requirements as you head to a more flexible future.  The first meeting, or call, with us is free so please contact us to get ahead. Call us – 07967 123201 or email andrew@thetakeoverexpert.com