A massive 50% of small businesses say hiring new employees is their top challenge. According to Wasp Barcode’s annual State of Small Business Report it is the number one challenge for businesses with fewer than 499 employees, even more challenging than the traditionally-mentioned issues, such as increasing profits and cash flow. So, Yuliana Topazly from BuddyWith explains how flexible working can help.
It’s what workers want
Recent research conducted by Smarter Working Hub found that:
- 67% of employees wish they were offered flexible working.
- 56% of commuters feel stressed or flustered at least once a month.
- 66% of whom suffer this at least once a week.
- 70% of workers feel that offering flexible working makes a job more attractive to them.
- Over half of people believe managers need to adapt their skills to manage a remote workforce.
Opening up the field
The biggest benefit to businesses is that flexible working practices will help to recruit and retain experienced staff. Offering flexible hours widens the talent pool; currently only 6% of vacancies are advertised as flexible. Flexible practices also increase commitment and loyalty of staff members.
It’s attractive to parents with experience
Parents are ignored by many businesses, despite representing a great pool of talent. Therefore, they also represent a missed opportunity. According to The Guardian, 40% of managers avoid hiring younger women to get around the issue and costs of maternity leave: ‘The cost of maternity leave is too high and women ‘aren’t as good at their jobs’ when they return’ according to a survey of 500 managers.
The tendency to overlook this segment can lead to discrimination, including the notion that a woman returning from a maternity break is not fully committed to work and/or cannot keep up with workloads. With the Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Act in place, this has partly helped parents in work but has also somewhat contributed to the avoidance of employing this workforce pool. The exception being ‘women in tech’. It is a shame that there seems to be a lack of information sharing, training and support for businesses in this space. There are many ways small businesses can engage and encourage this hidden talent to work for and with them, as well as encouraging women to go back to work after having children.
How does flexible working work
Flexible working is an alternative to traditional set working hours and a way of working that is tailored to suit the employee’s needs, without compromising productivity. It could include working from home, flexible start and finish times, job sharing and many other options.
Businesses should not view it as a challenge but rather an opportunity. According to the recent report by Breathing Space, it is likely to be the main way of working for more than 70% of employers by 2020. Every business needs to develop flexible working practices and understand how it can benefit their business and support their employees. It is about developing modern working practices to fit the needs of the 21st century employees.
A Taskforce report highlights the benefits of flexible working for businesses, families, older workers, carers and a growing population who want a better balance between work and home life and in the current business climate, there is an even stronger case for adapting flexible working practices.
The evidence
According to a Taskforce report:
- 65% of employers said flexible working practices had a positive effect on recruitment and retention thus saving on recruitment, induction and training costs.
- Businesses using remote working are seeing falling absenteeism and higher retention, which leads to a reduction in costs.
- Businesses also reported increased productivity and greater loyalty amongst staff.
- 70% of employers noted some or significant improvement in employee relations.
Customer benefits
Flexible working practices increase flexibility for customers. In our increasingly global environment, with rising customer expectations of service levels and access to products, offering flexible working may well mean that you can adapt more effectively to your customers’ needs.
The options
Unfortunately, a lot of businesses think it is just about part-time work and flexible hours. It is actually a lot more than that and can include:
- Flexi-time
- Job Sharing
- Shift Work
- Working from home
- Compressed Working Hours
- Annual Hours
- Career Breaks
Companies offering flexible working opportunities to all employees, irrespective of legal obligations, find that their employee engagement and satisfaction ratings are higher and they have a good reputation for balancing business and employee needs. It’s time for small businesses to realise the benefits of flexible working and look at introducing these practices in order to support growth and attract and retain the talent they need.
More on hiring staff and growing your business.
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