Flexible work hours refers to a practice whereby employers allow employees to adjust their resumption and closing time in a way that is different from the conventional 9 am-5 pm. However, despite the change in timing, the total daily work schedule of such employee meets the required working hours agreed between both parties. In other words, such employees still work for a specified number of hours and are still expected to meet their targets.
Flexible work hours are also known as ‘flexible schedule’ or ‘flex-time. It is a concept that millennials are attracted to and the reasons are not far-fetched. According to a recent Jobberman report, 54.8% of respondents maintained that flexible working hours is a factor that motivates them the most to accomplish their tasks at work.
Flex-time has an array of benefits for employers and employees. Let us take a quick look at some of these benefits.
Benefits of Flexible Hours to Employees
Fosters Mental & Physical Health: Mental and physical health contributes highly to your workplace productivity as an employee. Being offered flexible working schedules at work can ensure you commit more hours to physical activity and mental activity that foster better health.
This can also allow you to plan better meals and other things that ensure you are in great health and mindset to accomplish your set goals and targets in the workplace.
Boosts Productivity: Flexible work hours improves and boosts employees productivity in the workplace. Rather than having employees who resume at the workplace already tired and exhausted from spending hours in traffic, you can offer them flexible work hours to improve their productivity. For instance, instead of keeping your working hours rigid at 9 am-5 pm, you can ask them to resume at 7 am and close and 3 pm or work 8 am-4 pm. This gives them the luxury of planning their tasks around a time that works for them individually. Commuting to work and back home can be stressful in a city like Lagos where you have employees coming to the office from several neighbourhoods.
Employees also face personal challenges outside their work-life. Coming in early to work knowing that you can complete tasks assigned to you and have time to attend to other personal issues and your loved ones could drive you to be more productive in the workplace.
Benefits of Flexible Hours to Employers
Better Recruiting: According to a recent study, millennials currently make up a decent percentage of the workforce and this means their preferences need to the factored into your recruitment policies. For instance, millennials rank flexibility quite highly when trying to make a decision on where they will work. What this means for an employer is that by offering flexible work hours as an option, you would make your company more attractive to qualified candidates.
Reduces Employee Turnover: In an age where employers strive for the best strategies to reduce employee churn-rate, offering flexible schedules would go a long way to help you achieve this goal.
In conclusion, flexible work hours offers both employees and employers different levels of leverage to attain their respective goals. It also makes the workplace productive and upbeat. Adopting strategies like this improves the branding of organisations as they are seen to be pro-employees and flexible.
