Flexible working and why it’s becoming the next best thing

Finding a work-life balance can be difficult for most and work can often feel as though it’s all you do.

Spending more of your time at work than in your own home can become a real challenge in a lot of lives.

With the world drastically changing to digital, there has been a huge increase in jobs within this area of expertise and most of these jobs would or could be performed from a laptop.

Laptops have become a much-needed accessory in our everyday working lives and even in our personal lives. Allowing you to become more mobile and freer with our everyday tasks. Whether this is choosing a different place to work within the office so that you can get your head down, or even working from home or in a cosy coffee shop.

The 9-5 job can become strenuous, with approximately 40 hours every week in the same space, more than likely working on the same or similar projects, it is likely and natural that motivation can be tested.

It’s important to create new spaces for yourself and new surroundings. It will all help towards the attention needed for your work.

Many companies have jumped onto the idea of flexible working; allowing their employees to freely work from home when they choose to or giving them set days to do so.

Not only does flexible working achieve more motivation and balance, but it will also help with your employees’ loyalty.

Flexible working can be trying to employers, trust truly is everything. Trusting that the jobs will be completed by the employees when they aren’t in the office under yours or a manager’s supervision.

However, this is why flexible working works so perfectly with employees. They understand the trust that you’re putting in them to complete their daily tasks in their own space. It provides them with pride and achievement that this is allowed in their job role. As, for many jobs, it is still not a perk of the job.

Abandoning this trust will only lead to the perk being taken away.

Now, it isn’t as simple as letting your team roam free for a couple of days a month. To allow your team to have this flexibility, you need to ensure your staff's safety whilst they work from home.

Measurements should always be put in place in an office environment. For example, are the office chairs the right height and adjustment for each individual? Are computers and laptops away from the sun to prevent any glare on the screens? Is there enough sunlight in the office?

All these precautions must be taken into consideration when working from home too.

If flexible working is a regular occurrence for your employees, look into purchasing or encouraging them to purchase some new office furniture.

Not only will this help to allow good posture and better working conditions at home, but it will also help to allow motivation and productivity to flow.

As much as we would all like to spend our days on the sofa, it isn’t quite the same as a normal 9-5 job in the office and will likely cause distraction during your working hours.

Situating yourself within an office environment, even if this is in your own home, will trick your mind into becoming more focussed, and even though you may be in work mode, you’re in your own home, with no commuting and no running to the busy coffee shop down the road to grab your lunch!

The other great reason to allow flexible working is, of course, flu season! With unpaid sick days, unfortunately for some, they have no choice but to come into work. However, once one person is sick in an office environment, everyone will catch it.

Flexible working allows for people to recover, at home, where they aren’t infecting anyone else and they are also not losing out on their monthly paycheck.

Gradually over the years, flexible working will become more and more of a normal thing for office environments. If the capabilities are there and available for staff members, it should be looked into.

Not only will it help improve your staff’s motivation and productivity but also morale, allowing them to step away from any office drama for a day, rejuvenating themselves and then getting straight back into day to day office life the next day.

Within the next few years, office environments and day to days will have most definitely changed and it’s exciting to see it all unfold, with new technology and ways to work. We can’t help but wonder what the next best thing will be.