Close your flexible work value gap!
Covid-19 has done wonders for the way in which we’re thinking about the possibilities for flexible work. It’s an exciting time. I see so many enthusiastic leadership teams who want to reset their flexible work policies to fit this new aspiration. They can see the benefits for their workforce as well as productivity for the business. The way they used to see flexible work has shifted almost overnight and they want to fix up the old policy to reflect their new perspective.
There are a couple of problems with that though. In every organisation there’s a big gap between aspiration and reality, which no policy in the world can fix. Let me show you what I mean.
Problem one: Policies always get watered down.
Our flexible policies tend to be pretty well thought through and we keep them up to date as the legislation changes. At least a few people in our leadership team always want to go further but the policy ends up watered down because there are too many fears about how much you can really trust people if they are offered too many flexible work options.
Problem two: Practice is patchy
Once the watered down policy is delivered, our people leaders are pretty, umm, variable(!) in how they interpret it in practice. Some teams have a really high-trust culture and enjoy accessing plenty of flexible work options, while others are led by very traditional leaders who prefer to have everyone visible in the office to feel sure that delivery is happening. This creates a very patchy reality and a massive value gap emerges inside our organisations.
Does this sound familiar?
The only way to fix the value gap in your organisation is to have a way of lining up the promise, policy and practice in a measurable way. Seeing so many organisations going through this right now, I know that there is no single solution. The way in which you do it needs to reflect your new reality. There are some great ideas emerging in this area, so make sure you’re not getting left behind!
There are some fantastic HR teams who have this all in hand. If you’ve not got that kind of resource and you would like some support along the way, I can help you. The way I work keeps you in the driving seat as I provide navigation through tools, resources, expert advice and research to make sure you get to where you want to go.
Get in touch and let’s talk!