Flexibility has become a big deal for small businesses, with a recent study mentioning that it could empower your staff to feel an increased sense of contentment, relevance, and ownership. A popular way by which more businesses are incorporating flexibility into their operations is through remote working and flextime. Considering how it can positively influence your enterprise’s competitiveness and success, it is crucial to integrate flexibility in every possible way. Below are a few ways to achieve this.
1. Rethink employee collaboration
Giving employees total flexibility for complicated jobs involving collaboration can be challenging. On the other hand, returning to the usual in-office work week totally may not work. As a result, project supervisors must begin to think creatively and carefully about project needs and plan accordingly. As a business owner, carefully map out the project tasks and timeframe and make an advance request for staff to block a certain set of weekdays for tasks overlapping work during critical project stages like start, mid-point, and finalization. Also, consider matching scheduling surges with calendar time for less predictable workflows. This way, your team can seamlessly work while enjoying some flexibility.
2. Deploy new solutions
Equipping employees with the smartphones, tablets, and laptops they need to work effortlessly on the go or wherever they may be is critical in helping your business become more flexible. Modern and cloud-based business apps may also be critical in providing firms with the best opportunity to be more flexible and efficient in various ways. Such tools are a great way to leverage innovation and improve productivity. While implementing new solutions, you can also consider other ways to solidify your business resources, such as outsourcing. For instance, do you need to up or downscale your operations? You can benefit from options like 3PL flexible warehousing solutions to keep your business going and assist with your logistics.
3. Push for cultural change
Pushing for cultural change isn't just about working fewer hours or altering your workplace and time. It is about shifting your staff’s mentality toward flexibility and why it benefits your company. Concentrate on project results and outputs, not only inputs to show the tangible difference flexibility makes in your daily operations. Pushing for cultural change is core to recognizing that there is life outside work, positioning your business as a responsive brand that cares about its staff and promptly adapts when needed.
4. Remember that no one size fits all
Being more adaptable and agile can be a win-win situation for your business and staff. What is successful in one firm may not work for another. Therefore, ask your new workers about their preferred working schedules and tailor their functions accordingly. Many businesses take steps to ensure flexible start and finish times while keeping their core work hours or extending their lunch breaks. Manage flexibility to support your particular business objectives and workers' productivity, including rethinking your long-standing key operating practices.
Employees who desire the benefits of flexibility must also accept some of the responsibilities that come with it. However, this does not imply abandoning them in the middle of a storm. Managers and business owners are still accountable for ensuring everyone moves in the same route to the desired spot — even if they move at different times.
