Women's Biz Magazine
How to Start
Introducing Workplace Flexibility into Your Business By Genevieve McMullen
J
ust when we think the workplace flexibility debate has died down, it decides to storm back into the headlines like a washed out celebrity trying to revive their career. Elon Musk is no doubt spearheading the 'return to the office' mantra, while on the other end of the spectrum global tech giant Atlassian advocates for working wherever, whenever. Even more recently, e-commerce giant Shopify has put a policy in place that states the company will be cutting out wasteful 2 person meetings to boost productivity.
It can be tricky to navigate your own policies when it comes to workplace flexibility, especially when it seems that everyone and their dog is giving unlimited time off, 32 | WOMENSBIZGLOBAL.COM
4 day work weeks or calling their employees back in with a stern hand and a hard deadline. So what’s right for you and how do you possibly start to navigate such politically charged waters? You want to keep your staff happy but you want to make sure that the flexibility you're providing them is going to work for the business (and KEEP you in business.) Here are some pointers to get you making the right choice.
Do Your Research While you know what’s best for your business, it doesn’t hurt to peek over into someone else’ backyard every now and then. By doing some desktop research into what your competitors and your industry are doing you can start to get
an understanding to see if this is also right for you. Cherry pick ideas and initiatives to explore that align with your goals and leave behind those that are too hard or complicated to currently implement.
Flip-flopping Creates Chaos Trialing certain flexibility initiatives like a 9 day fortnight or adopting a hybrid model are a great way to see what’s working for everyone and what’s not hitting the mark. As the business owner, you have the right to rescind on any initiatives when they are just not working. But if you continue to trial and pull up stumps at the first sign of a hiccup, it’s not going to end well. Employees need time to figure things out, iron out the kinks, get used to the systems and processes. If you don’t allow time for employees to get into a groove with a new initiative they are going to lose trust.
