The Future of Work Is Flexible

The shutdowns of 2020 pushed many organizations to restructure as remote workplaces. Since then, many have gone back to in-person or hybrid work policies to foster more collaboration among employees. Yet, even as return to office mandates become increasingly common, it is clear that the traditional 9 to 5 does not always mean productivity.

Although flexibility was once considered a perk, it has quickly become a common expectation. According to this 2022 Forbes article, employees consider flexibility a major selling point for prospective workplaces, and some organizations are responding by redesigning their policies, spaces, and cultures to support that shift. To stay competitive, employers need to consider policies that treat flexibility as a long-term expectation, not a temporary fix still lingering from 2020.

“Even when most collaborations are technically on the same worksite, staff are often spread out across campus and need to travel off campus for meetings,” said SIOP Fellow Lacie Barber. “In many professional jobs, staying connected through communication technologies like email and Zoom is already HOW we get most of our work done. So layering in more flexibility in WHERE people work on specific days can provide added value for work–life balance at a low cost to collaboration.”

There are three main points that organizations should consider:

1. Rethink performance benchmarks. Base success on the outcomes and deliverables, as opposed to the hours spent on a project, as described in this Deloitte article.

2. Foster team collaboration. In the physical workplace, this might mean redesigning spaces to focus more on shared areas. For remote work, employees need access to digital tools that offer seamless communication and project management. Google cites higher engagement with their hybrid work schedule and collaboration forward workplace designs.

3. Build a culture of trust. Flexible work means less direct oversight over employees. An article from Work Design highlights key data that shows that empowered employees who feel psychologically safe report higher productivity and engagement.

Although there are many resources that show promise that these approaches offer organizations will attract and retain top talent and employees will enjoy more work–life balance, a recent Axios article highlights that some organizations are still holding on to presence in an in-person workplace as the only way to reach goals and succeed.

“There are situations where remote work patterns among the team overloads a subset of people with invisible secondary tasks,” Barber said. “These extra in-person tasks can make them fall beyond on more visible metrics valued by the team and skew perceptions of their performance. So, figuring out a way to rotate in-person requirements or recognize additional in-person workload at the team level is crucial for ensuring fairness.”

There’s no doubt that the approach to and expectations for flexibility in the workplace has drastically changed in the last five years. Regardless of whether work is handled remotely, in person, or on a hybrid model, encouraging employees to connect and collaborate is crucial to reaching organizational goals and ensuring long term success. Organizations that continue to evolve will be better equipped for the changing landscape.