I’ve written previously about the power of flexible working to engage and excite workers, with research also showing that flexible workers are often more productive, due in large part to being sick less often, working longer hours and generally being happier at work.

It’s perhaps understandable therefore that offering flexible work is a good way to attract the best and brightest talent to your organization, but it’s always nice to have empirical evidence to back up one’s instincts, and that’s precisely what a recently published study from Purdue University provides.

The authors argue that the best talent (or all talent really) have an innate desire to be as productive as possible at work, so designing flexible workload arrangements that help people to do this could be especially appealing.  They cite the example of the Netherlands, where flexible work arrangements have not only seen productivity improvements, but have also improved gender equality in the workplace.

Flexible part-time work

This can be especially so with a more flexible form of part-time work, where employees work with their manager to reduce their work load while still having career progression opportunities open to them.  This is done by both parties identifying the activities that really add value to the organization, with the lower-value activities then assigned to other people to perform.  Alternatively, some tasks may be identified as legacy tasks that can be eradicated entirely.

“We need to jettison our old conceptions of part-time work being low pay or a career dead end, or something relegating one to a secondary mommy or daddy track,” the authors say. “Given that many salaried professional jobs today have ballooned to be up to 50 or 60 hours a week, reduced-load work is desperately needed as a temporary or ongoing career option for workers at all career ages and stages.”

The authors suggest that a reduced workload could significantly prolong careers for managers and other experienced professionals, but there is significant reluctance to introduce such policies in organizations to date.

“One reason there is hesitancy is managers sometimes think that having someone work less than full-time hours means they are getting less work done. But the reality is many reduced-load workers work more intently and often get as much done as a full-time worker. This is because they enjoy the opportunity to have an interesting job yet still be able to flexible in a way that enables time for other life interests – from continuing education, to caregiving to community involvement,” they explain.

Accounting systems are another significant hurdle to adopting more flexible work practices, as many have been developed with standardized headcounts in mind for labor costing.  Such an approach inevitably penalizes managers who experiment with reduced workloads as they then struggle to hire additional staff.  A good first step towards overcoming this is to shift away from counting bodies and focus instead on counting full-time equivalent hours.

A fresh approach to tasks

Organizations can then begin to examine tasks to better identify those that add value, and those that could be integrated into the roles of other employees.

“This enables managers to have more flexibility in organizing tasks and not be penalized for learning how to reallocate workloads or hours for individual talented workers,” the authors explain. “Doing so can also develop other team members’ knowledge and provide better backup for clients.”

To achieve this outcome however requires a fundamentally new approach to assigning job tasks, and indeed how to manage careers.  It is also likely to require a change in attitude, not least among male employees, who a recent study from the University of Kent found look down on the concept of flexible work.

The findings emerged from an analysis of data collected from the UK government’s 2011 Work-Life Balance Survey. The researchers specifically wanted to test whether there was any stigma attached to flexible work, and indeed flexible workers. Sadly, it seems that most of those who held negative views about those who work flexibly were men, with women most often the brunt of such opinions.

Sadly, a further 18% of people said their careers had directly suffered as a result of their flexible working, which the authors propose is one reason why relatively few workers request something that was made available by law to all workers in 2014.

Those who were most likely to work flexible hours were mothers who worked either part-time or on reduced hours.  They were much more likely to have flexible working than those who worked full-time.  Sadly, these people were also most likely to report that their careers had suffered as a result.  Interestingly, for men, they believed that it was other people working flexibly that harmed their own careers.

“It is clear there are still many people who view flexible working as a negative and for different reasons,” the researchers say.  “This has major implications for how employers introduce and offer flexible working arrangements in their organisation, especially as the government looks to increase the rights of workers to request flexible working.”

Changing attitudes

Thankfully, a third study highlights how such attitudes are open to change, especially when managers gain experience with employees who operate with flexible work schedules, with the impact of their peers considerable.

The researchers monitored managers at a large financial services company over a year to examine their relationship with flexible working.  Eight months into the study period, half of the managers were given a report that highlighted how other managers were supporting flexible working within the organization.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was enough to trigger a change in mindset in the managers, who subsequently became more friendly towards flexible work arrangements in their own departments.

“Some managers have a jaundiced view of flexible work arrangements because they think it will make their own work harder and is not in their career interest,” the authors say. “Our research indicates that if a company has an effective communications strategy, where it can explain to managers not only in an abstract way that flexible work options are beneficial, but that their peers support these policies, it can transform manager sentiments toward embracing FWAs.”

So perhaps a good start point is to get early adopters to embark down this road, and then to encourage their stories to be well communicated internally to encourage more managers to shake off the mental shackles and follow suit.  Then we might start to develop workplaces that give people the autonomy and flexibility they so crave.