How to Provide Employees Flexibility and Still Hold Everyone Accountable
Flexibility in the workplace comes in various shapes and sizes. These can either be in the form of part-time work, flexi-time schedules, compressed workweeks, job sharing, and even telecommuting. Whatever the case, all of these examples provide a different type of workday than the standard 9-to-5, we were all accustomed to.
Now, unsurprisingly, many business owners are reticent about introducing these types of work schedules within their companies, largely in fear that they will not be as productive. Yet, from a statistical standpoint, flexibility in the workplace was shown to create a much happier, healthier, and more productive environment than before. It is for this exact reason why so many companies, big and small, are introducing flexibility into their schedules.
Nevertheless, there is one major hurdle that needs to be overcome before creating such flexible environments. A lack of accountability is on many business owners’ minds when contemplating this idea. They fear that if their employees start dictating their own work hours or if they work remotely, they will end up with a completely disengaged staff. And while this is a possibility, there are several ways to have both accountability and flexibility, in a working environment that promotes and benefits from both.
Embrace Feedback
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions,” according to Ken Blanchard, an American author, and management expert. Employee feedback can provide you with the necessary information to determine whether your initiatives are working and whether your employees are satisfied or not.
As a means of reinforcing accountability in the workplace, one easy idea would be to send your staff weekly surveys to determine various issues in their work lives. This will ensure that no issues go unsolved or are allowed to fester and grow.
Another way of using employee feedback in this context is to conduct quarterly check-ins, measuring your staff’s knowledge and understanding of your company’s core values, their own responsibilities, and objectives. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page, they are reminded of their day-to-day duties, eliminating any surprises or ambiguity, in the process.
A Flexible Company Culture
The benefits of a carefully thought out and implemented company culture cannot be denied. Not only does it keep your workforce going in the same direction, but it can do so even in the absence of a rigid structure. Yet, this company culture needs to be specifically tailored so as to take into account the type and amount of flexibility that you want to bring to your organization.
In a flexible working environment, where employees can choose their own work hours or can opt to work completely remote from the organization, itself, there is a tendency for staff members to develop individual cliques. When this happens, those who are not part of those cliques tend to left out of important conversations. This will inevitably lead to frustration and resentment among your employees.
We recommend that you develop your own company culture, by carefully and clearly defining your values and mission. You should then communicate it to your entire staff and reward those who work by it on a regular basis. A culture deck may also come in handy since it will remind everyone about your processes and how they align with your values and company culture.
Conclusion
Flexibility in the workplace can do wonders for both the employee and the company they work for. Nevertheless, as a business owner, you will have to provide a healthy balance of both flexibility and accountability for operations to run smoothly and without a hitch.