For many clerical employees, work-life balance is a priority. However, if the workplace is overly rigid, achieving that goal can be a challenge, if not impossible. In some cases, this may even drive top talent away from your organization, especially if your competitor is providing the kind of flexibility that will help them craft their ideal lives.
If you aren’t allowing for some flexibility for your clerical employees, here’s why you might want to reconsider.
Attract and Retain Top Talent
Many companies view workplace flexibility as a perk. However, it is becoming increasingly available, and most skilled professionals are aware of its existence. Plus, employees desire these kinds of arrangements, so they often seek them out.
If you provide employees with some flexibility, it can make your company more attractive to job seekers and your current workforce. This can help with both recruitment and retention, increasing your odds of being able to secure top talent and keep them on board.
Increased Productivity
When your staff feels that their lives are in balance, they are usually happier. In most cases, a happy workforce is more satisfied and engaged, and that can boost overall productivity.
Providing flexibility gives employees the ability to adjust their lives in ways that help them flourish personally and professionally. It makes handling matters outside the officer easier, allowing them to keep their personal obligations in order, while simultaneously decreasing their stress levels.
Plus, it shows the company recognizes how busy the lives of most of their workers are and that they are willing to work with everyone to make work-life balance a possibility.
What Flexible Work Arrangements Should You Offer?
In the end, every company is different. That means what works for your competitor might not suit your environment, and that’s OK. However, an alternative may be entirely manageable, or at least worth exploring.
Flexible work arrangements come in all shapes and sizes. For example, some companies have telecommuting options, letting their clerical workers perform certain tasks from home. Others allow employees to start earlier or later in the day, giving workers the ability to slightly shift their schedules to fit their lives best.
Compressed work weeks can also be an option. Four 10-hour days allow your employees to have a weekday off, while a 9/5/4 accomplishes a similar goal, but they only have a weekday off every other week.
When you offer flexible work arrangements, that doesn’t mean you don’t have control. You can set mandatory core business hours to ensure everyone is on-site during specific portions of the day and make sure telecommuting days or compressed workweeks are staggered, guaranteeing someone is always in the office.
Ultimately, there’s a lot you can do to add a degree of flexibility to your workplace, so consider testing a few options to see which ones are right for you and your clerical employees. If you would like assistance exploring your options, the professionals at The Advance Group can help. Contact us to speak with one of our knowledgeable staff members today and see how our expertise can benefit you.
