FAQs - Benefits of Flexible Working

Our award winning research shows a direct connection between employee morale and the provision of flexible working hours.

In earlier general studies into flexible working, it had already been established that there is a similar connection between improved employee morale and

• reduced absence levels
• employee retention rates
• employee productivity

What our study shows:

When the organisation recognises the conflict that the employee has with his/her life commitments i.e. the work:life conflict, and is prepared to provide him/her with a crucial support mechanism i.e. flexible working – then the employee reciprocates consciously or otherwise with a new and more positive attitude to work and to the workplace, resulting in these improvements listed above.

To add further to this, often this support mechanism that is provided i.e. flexible hours, is most appreciated at a time of pressure, perhaps even crisis, in an employee's life cycle e.g. when needing to care for small children or an elderly parent.

Therefore, unusually, for a human resources subject, flexible working hours can reach right into the employee's home and homelife. This can explain why the benefits of such intervention is felt even after that “pressured” part of the employee's life has passed, which can furthermore assist towards a more lasting workplace harmony.

It should also be noted, that the concept of the work:life conflict is an issue for all people at work irrespective of their age group, their family commitments etc.

So, for example, a younger or single person, perhaps less committed at that point to family obligations, will see the benefits of solving his/her work:life conflict through utilising flexible working in his/her own way e.g. avoiding traffic, using the flexiblity of working time to attend night courses more easily, socialising aspects and so on.