Make flexible working simpler to manage in 7 steps

Over the past 18 months, flexible working has evolved from a mission for a small number of forward-thinking companies to the standard way of operating for many businesses. And this change is here to stay.

82% of UK professionals want to continue working in an agile manner, and a government consultation is now underway to decide whether employees should have the legal right to request flexible working from day one in their role.

But while there are clear benefits to offering flexible working opportunities to employees, it’s not always easy for senior leaders to adopt a fluid approach to staff management. For agile working to be successful, people still need to collaborate closely – even when they’re working different hours, in different locations.

So how can UK companies improve staff scheduling and make flexible working easier to manage? To help this situation, WhosOffice has launched a new ebook containing 7 ways to simplify your flexible working set-up.

Here are some highlights:

Step 1: Treat every working day as a shift

Companies in sectors like retail, hospitality and healthcare are already used to planning each day in shifts. But other industries are still centred on a Monday-Friday, 9am-5:30pm structure.

Leaving behind this fixed mindset and thinking of every working day as a shift makes it much easier to incorporate more flexibility into staff working patterns. Under this new approach, every employee has a set number of hours to complete each week, but they can adjust the time those hours are completed – introducing flexible working where relevant and appropriate.

Thinking of the working week in hours rather than days also removes the notion that every working day needs to be equal. You might be able to offer a set-up in which staff work longer hours some days compared to others, which can be especially helpful during peak trading periods.

Step 2: Set clear guidelines for every employee

It would be great if companies were able to offer personalised hours for every employee, but the reality is that some jobs are more flexible than others. And even within agile roles, team members still need to work together, which means sharing some core hours.

To avoid flexible working evolving into a ‘free for all’ it’s important to set clear guidelines around what is and isn’t possible. That means formally documenting information in a company flexible working policy, which can be used as a consistent framework for approving or rejecting all staff applications.

A good flexible working policy covers essentials such as which employees are eligible to request flexible hours, how they can submit their request, and whether they should stick to a consistent pattern (or if they can change the way their hours flex from week-to-week).

You should also consider how location impacts your flexible working policy. Some staff members may be happy to retain their current core hours, but want the fluidity to work from home part of the week on a permanent basis.

Step 3: Don’t forget annual leave!

Managing flexible working schedules is a challenge in itself, and admin becomes even more complicated to coordinate when staff holiday is included. When you don’t have a rigid structure, how do you make sure all roles and responsibilities are covered when someone’s on annual leave?

Many companies struggle to successfully accommodate holiday requests in a flexible working environment because staff scheduling is managed separately from paid time off. This makes it very difficult to see how absences impact productivity or create gaps in the schedule.

Integrating employee scheduling and staff holiday planning through a people management platform like WhosOffice means every single piece of relevant data is being stored in one place. So if a team member wants to flex their hours, whoever is reviewing their application can account for staff shortages due to annual leave before deciding whether to approve their request.

To read WhosOffice’s next four tips for agile working success, download our new guide: 7 ways to simplify your flexible working set-up.