To help you best adapt flexible work schedules to work for everyone in your company, we asked HR managers and business leaders this question for their best insights. From having transparency with your team to using project-sharing tools, there are several tips that may help you manage flexible work schedules effectively for your remote and hybrid workforce without loss of productivity.
Here are six ways these leaders make company flex schedules work for everyone:
- Have Transparency With Your Team
- Agree on Key Check-in Points or Milestones
- Monitor Results Instead of Hours Worked
- Involve Your Employees in the Planning Process
- Agree on Core Working Hours
- Use Project-Sharing Tools
Have Transparency With Your Team
Transparency is key in any working environment, so it’s only natural that this carries over even into a situation where work schedules are flexible. Managers need to be clear about what flexibility means and what they expect out of their employees through this. Employees, on the other hand, should be transparent about what is working for them when offered flexibility in their schedules. Having this open communication between employees and their managers helps to avoid conflict and other problems from arising early on while also building trust that work can get done despite the unconventional hours.
Jacob Dayan, Community Tax
Agree on Key Check-in Points or Milestones
One of the challenges with flexible working is when processes and timelines are not also updated or reworked to match. If multiple members of a team have different flexible schedules, then the process needs to be clear. Some questions that need to be answered are: what are the key milestones on this project? What needs to be done, by who, by when? When can we schedule key check-in moments, where everyone, or the key people need to present? Having agreed answers to these questions will allow everyone to go off and do what needs to be done in their own time, on time. Quite simply, this is about well-managed communication and project management, with flexibility in mind.
Hannah Ray, TAKE Coaching Amsterdam
Monitor Results Instead of Hours Worked
Monitoring the amount of work completed rather than the number of hours they are working is the best suggestion I have ever received. When it comes to flexible schedules, it can be far more effective to monitor their production over how long they are sitting at a desk, even though this strategy is much more suitable for team members who are paid on a salary rather than on an hourly basis. You must keep in mind that the team won’t work more than 40 hours per week unless you are paying overtime. Avoid making your employee feel like they need to put in extra time in the office in order to catch up on any tasks they may have missed. You should often meet one-on-one with each team member to evaluate how they are handling their workload in order to keep this under control.
Max Whiteside, Breaking Muscle
Involve Your Employees in the Planning Process
Flexible work schedules are meant to make life easier for staffers, but that only works if their needs are taken into account. When you’re establishing the rules for a flexible work setup, make sure to include feedback from them. Whether it’s scheduling regular team check-ins, common work hours or establishing performance metrics, the best way to make a flexible schedule work is to create it knowing your team’s needs.
Rachel Reid, Subtl Beauty
Agree on Core Working Hours
Flexible work hours can benefit many workers, but to ensure that you meet business targets, there must be agreed-upon core working hours. Discuss with your team what hours work best for them and make a functional window within what is more achievable for everybody. This is a great way to get all your team meetings, essential tasks and bonding with your team completed whilst respecting the flexible working agreement. To keep everyone on a schedule, you can even implement a scheduling center which allows you to delegate tasks, but it is up to the flex workers to complete them within a certain time window.
Wendy Makinson, Joloda Hydraroll
Use Project-Sharing Tools
Flexible work schedules are possible with the right organizational and collaboration tools that keep everything on track and help employees understand their daily/weekly responsibilities. By using project-sharing tools, employees have an overview of the tasks they are required to perform as well as the deadlines for submitting them, allowing them to manage their schedules by evaluating the tasks that must be completed that day. This is a great way to support flexible work schedules and maintain business and workflow efficiency, especially since managers can monitor the task progress on each project, provide feedback, and ensure that everyone is finishing their tasks.
Martin Lassen, GrammarHow
Brett Farmiloe is the founder of Terkel, a Q&A platform that connects brands with expert insights. Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.
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