Flexible Working: Productive or Destructive?


It’s a much-debated topic and a growing trend, but most companies still don’t seem to take a deliberate approach to flexible working. Instead, they just offer a vague middle ground of “flexible working” on a case by case basis.
There are strong arguments for encouraging remote working and, conversely, arguments for bringing everyone together under the one roof. As recent examples highlight, there is no “one size fits all” answer. The key is to tailor your company’s approach to your objectives, operating rhythm, desired culture and workforce composition.

Back to the office

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer famously abolished working from home in 2013, saying that “people are more productive when they’re alone, but they’re more collaborative and innovative when they’re together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together”.
It’s a powerful argument. It also contains an inherent assumption that working from home increases productivity, which may not always be true. But Mayer had to do something to shake up Yahoo!’s culture and she put collaboration ahead of flexibility, which is what she felt the company needed at that point in time.
In 2014 Reddit decided to consolidate its workforce in one location, San Francisco and abolished remote working. Reddit’s reasons were similar to Yahoo!’s.

More flexible companies

Envato, a marketplace for creative assets, takes a very different approach, explicitly promoting remote and flexible working on its careers site. Remote working, travel, flexible hours, paid parental leave and secondments are just some of the many employee benefits Envato highlights.
Envato’s culture is different to Yahoo!’s and, importantly, its head office is not in Silicon Valley but rather in Melbourne, Australia. Envato chooses to promote flexibility and optionality as important features of its culture.
Automattic, the company that developed WordPress, is another company that promotes flexible working, citing talent as its primary reason. Automattic CEO, Matt Mullenweg, said that remote working “… has been amazing for the company in that we can attract and retain the best talent without them having to be in New York or San Francisco or one of the traditional tech centers.”
Automattic uses chat, alerts and an internal blog to communicate effectively and ensures staff are adequately supported with great tools. WordPress is the most dominant content management system in the world so Automattic doesn’t appear to be suffering from a lack of productivity as a result of its remote workforce.

The conclusion is therefore that its different strokes for different folks. It depends on your company’s situation and, most importantly, how you execute your desired approach.

Here are some of the questions you should ask before deciding which way to go:

1.  What kind of culture do you want to develop?
2.  How would you like staff to communicate and collaborate?
3.  How much are you prepared to invest in home office stipends, tools, and technology for staff?
4.  Where is the talent you need likely to be based?
5.  What do you need to do to get the best out of your staff and keep your people engaged?
6.  What is the downside of the approach you select and how can you mitigate that?

We practice what we preach

Under the right circumstances, remote working can hugely advantageous. The key is to put the right processes in place and maintain a structure, as Automattic has done. Otherwise, it can get messy and very quickly. If executed well, the benefits can be tremendous.
Here at Vervoe, we have a remote working culture. The benefits have been amazing. Our team members work from multiple locations across the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. Instead of worrying about where people are, we focus on having the best team. Best doesn’t just mean capable, it also means passionate and committed.
We look for people who believe in our vision and want to be part of our journey, no matter where they live. We then put the tools in place to help them succeed in their roles and collaborate with the rest of the team.

AUTHOR
Making hiring about merit, not background | Co-founder and CEO of Vervoe

COMMENTS

Name

Career,1003,
ltr
item
eZineInsider.com Career: Flexible Working: Productive or Destructive?
Flexible Working: Productive or Destructive?
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ax4HRKZsVww/XMwmBjt4PMI/AAAAAAAACM4/yjGockCr8pc4SmM0HKGWZLD1oPfpOEhFQCLcBGAs/s320/Screenshot_5.png
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ax4HRKZsVww/XMwmBjt4PMI/AAAAAAAACM4/yjGockCr8pc4SmM0HKGWZLD1oPfpOEhFQCLcBGAs/s72-c/Screenshot_5.png
eZineInsider.com Career
https://career.ezineinsider.com/2019/05/flexible-working-productive-or.html
https://career.ezineinsider.com/
https://career.ezineinsider.com/
https://career.ezineinsider.com/2019/05/flexible-working-productive-or.html
true
1849605764304258819
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Read More Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy Table of Content