Reframing Flexwork for the New Economy

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Having weathered a recession that revealed inefficiencies, carelessness, and just plain antiquated business practices, companies are facing new demands from shareholders, employees, and customers alike: increased productivity, accountability, and sustainability.

And the solution to these demands may be an idea that has, for years, been relegated to the HR department or affinity groups, marked a “woman’s issue” and not taken seriously in the boardroom.

Judith Cherry, Head of Research and Insight at the UK-based organization Opportunity Now and author of the report “Out of Office: Solutions for an Agile Future” [PDF] explained, “We’re moving the debate away from flexwork – because we’ve come to the understanding that we’re all flex workers. What we’re doing now is “agile working.”

The distinction is important, she said, because agile working is about more than working from home, or using mobile devices. It’s a whole new system of management.

She explained, “Technology allows us to work after hours, across time zones, at home, at the airport – we can manage this, so how come it is so hard to let people work three days out of the week? The psychology of work has not caught up with the technology.”

Agile working means “rethink[ing] the way we work. It means shifting focus from individuals and jobs to tasks and teams,” Cherry added.

A Fundamental Transformation for Businesses

The key to the psychology problem is pointing how how how agile working can improve management. According to Cherry, agile working promotes objective measurement (“all you can judge performance by is what the product is”), communication and sharing knowledge, and, she said, “actually makes managers manage. There’s the assumption that if you’re all sitting in the same room, managing will just happen.”

When individuals work remotely, or during different hours of the day, clear and consistent information is critical, she said. Managers need to carefully monitor their team’s progress, and make sure everyone is on the right track. Doing so ensures that there are no surprises, said Cherry, and agile working will quickly uncover careless, biased, or disengaged managers.

As the new economy has forced company leadership to refocus their sights on results and efficiency, Cherry said, agile working may be just the key producing the sustainable workforce they are looking for.

She said, “It’s fundamentally different, better way of working. It has the ability to transform the organization.”

New Visions for Workplace Flexibility

One organization long supporting flexwork is the Center for Work-Life Policy, based in New York. CWLP’s first report “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps” [PDF] was released in 2005, and cast a critical eye on the so-called “Opt Out Revolution.” Were women really opting out of their careers in favor of raising families? In fact, the study showed, most women who left their jobs wanted to do so only for about 2 years – because of factors like childcare, eldercare, health, or other personal reasons. Unfortunately, they were finding it exceedingly difficult to get back in.

Having recently released a follow up study “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps Revisited,” [PDF] Laura Sherbin, Vice President and Director of Research at CWLP said, “We really began to look into was what would keep women on track. 69% of women would not have left their jobs if more flex time was available to them.”

But, she said, “As far as the technology goes, we are still finding a really huge stigma attached to that – 60% don’t utilize [flexwork options]. 24% said there was an unspoken rule that people who use these options will never be promoted. And a few even said that taking advantage of flexwork could be ‘career suicide.’”

And finally, “Over one half of women who off-ramp never discuss the options with their supervisor,”

This harkens back to Cherry’s call for a change in the psychology and culture of work. If flex/agile work can be so beneficial, why is it so stigmatized?

Cherry said, “The idea of flex-work breeds suspicion – there’s the idea that it benefits only some.”

Sherbin agreed, “[It’s about] making it absolutely and totally not a women’s issue. When it is stigmatized as a woman’s issue or a concession – it’s not helpful.” In fact, she said the number of men looking to take advantage of flexwork has risen over the past few years. “It’s not just women – if men see other men doing it, they feel they are able to do it too,” she said.

One success story she mentioned was Citi‘s Alternate Work Strategy. “They frame it as a way to be green and save money on real estate. It’s great for the bottom line and for employees. Flexwork is seen as capability and a way to keep the company going.”

She also discussed KPMG‘s recent move toward alternate scheduling. She said, “[The company] was faced with the need to reduce employee expenses by a certain percentage, and rather than layoffs, they decided to do something different. They offered employees either a four-day workweek, a short sabbatical with a paycut, or both. The number one option was doing both – and it was gender neutral. It was positioned very well – ‘save the company and save your coworker’s job.’ It had to do with sustainability.”

Overcoming Agile Work Challenges – Teamwork and Communication

While the recession has forced some companies to find new means of cutting back – agile working among them – changing the psychology of work is no easy task, said Cherry. Agile work does not have to mean the end of relationships. In fact, cohesive teamwork will be more important than ever.

“Technology is making it easier,” she said, but “the big issue is that we don’t read body language over the phone – it’s hard to pick up stress signals. Managers need to work hard to manage relationships.” She recommended frequent conference calls and one-on-one calls to maintain relationships and the team dynamic.

Additionally, she said, generational change is likely to benefit agile working. “The next generation is much more confident about building relationships online,” she said.

And while management will have to be at its top form, she said, so do workers. “It’s a two way street.
The onus is on management – but also on yourself. It means being clear about objectives and navigating your way through [a new dynamic]. Also, it can be difficult to separate barriers between work and life when you are working from home.”

In the long run, flex/agile working is here to stay – both Cherry and Sherbin said the individuals surveyed for both studies were optimistic about the ability to work when and where they need to. In fact, Cherry said, “Remote workers are much more positive about all sorts of things – team, leadership, commitment to their job. They’re much more positive and engaged.”

The current economic situation is pushing workplaces toward results and performance-based management styles. And as companies look for new cost-efficiencies in terms or energy and real estate, and technology continues to open new possibilities, flex/agile working seems almost inevitable.

All that’s left to do is change the way we think about work.