The New Work Flexibility: When Work Happens, Not Just Where

The Pandemic taught (those willing to learn) that flexibility in work is possible and desired. And while the news and some senior leadership teams tell us that more of the work needs to take place in the office, the world has changed, whether some like it or not. Not everyone is or will be working on-site five days a week. We can call this the “where flexibility” and it is here to stay.

But the new work flexibility isn’t as much about where we are working as it is about when we are working.

For about 100 years, the generally standard working hours (but with many deviations of course) have been 40 hours per week across 5 days. Is that still necessary?

As teams have left offices and expanded across time zones and oceans, we’ve figured out (or are figuring out) how to work asynchronously. And technological advances have given us tools to help us do that more effectively. Yet too often we default to the long-standing start and end times for everyone.

As powerful as habit and “we’ve always done it that way,” is, it is time to consider additional flexibility in when people do their work.

This isn’t really a completely new idea. Over 35 years ago, when I worked at Chevron, they instituted the option of a 9/80 schedule – people would work their 80 hours in nine days over two weeks rather than ten, getting every other Friday or Monday off. It was a hit.

Many people in a variety of industries work 4 – 10’s – or forty hours in four rather than five days. And there are shift workers who have a variety of configurations of 12-hour shift patterns too. I believe more of this type of flexibility may have application in your organization, even if you haven’t considered it before, but the type of new work flexibility I speak of is more than those important options.

New Work Flexibility

New work flexibility is about providing situational flexibility that both supports the business needs and helps team members make work fit better into their lives. For it to work well it can’t simply be a perk for employees but rather something that works for mutual benefit with the organization too.

What might it look like? Here are a few thoughts to consider:

• Shifting shifts. Can you have a variety of start and stop times, that allow some people (or based on time zones) to match work and home life differently?
• Seasonal hours. Is there seasonality in your business or for your team that could allow great work to be done and give people some other options?
• Situational flexibility. Are people able to flex their schedule for a part of a day to manage appointments or something else in their lives?
• Other options. What other scheduling options could you consider – or what others might be valuable to your teams?

What is the point of all of this?

The point is to find new ways to get great work accomplished and support the needs of the team in new ways too. When we open our minds up to new possibilities, and work for a win for everyone, we can move past cookie-cutter approaches like we have experienced in the past.

In clothes, it is sometimes said that “one-size-fits-all” means it fits none. Increasingly in a complex world of work the same can be true for schedules.

Next Steps

Nothing I have mentioned here is brand new. And not all of what I have suggested will work or apply in every situation. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The new work flexibility of when we work doesn’t have to mean creating policies – in fact, policies quickly become restrictive, even if that isn’t the intent. Rather, new work flexibility is about finding schedule solutions that meet the needs of both the business and team members. Doing this well will create new synergies, build productivity and engagement, leading to better business results.