Economic relief: The site-based workforce
What if you can’t work from home?
Conversations have begun about how we can provide some economic relief for the workforce since the oil shock hit a couple of months ago. The most common response I hear is that people can work from home again to reduce their commuting costs: Working from Home - Take Two. That’s a great response for the third of the workforce that has a desk-based job to do.
What about the site-based workforce who can’t work from home?
It is harder. Without doubt. If you need to be on-site to do your job, then how do you reduce the cost of the commute?
Offering a financial lift is ideal, if that’s possible in your business. Are there also car pooling arrangements to explore? If those aren’t viable options, then getting creative with ways of working is an investment that can provide some economic relief and other longer term benefits besides.
Codesign relief that fits
The key for site-based work is to talk to the teams and design something together. A top-down policy won’t work. The redesign of the work and the subsequent relief created is best when driven from the team. They know what is possible and where they can be creative. You can set some parameters, and within those, ask people for their ideas.
When I codesign a flexible work pilot with on-site teams they often arrive feeling unsure about what we could come up with. By asking the right questions, sharing some relevant examples of what’s been successful elsewhere, it is amazing how quickly people have great ideas and work through the challenge.
What’s worth considering?
One option worth exploring is compressed hours. Is it possible for the team to drop down to four longer days, cutting out one commute per week? It might also save the business some fixed costs if the fifth day is effectively a shut down.
Another option could be to proactively offer part-time work and job-sharing options. Many people are looking for creative ways to stay employed, manage the demands on their time and energy outside work, but haven’t been able to access high quality part-time work. They might be ready for a gradual phased retirement rather than a sudden flick of the switch from employee to retiree. They might be managing community and volunteer roles, or family responsibilities. Offering part-time work is another way for some in the workforce to rebalance their financial, energy and time commitments.
A third idea to explore is to pilot a shorter work week. The principle is to line up the incentives of the business with the incentives of your workforce. One six-month pilot I recently concluded had this value exchange at its heart: find at least 10% productivity in exchange for one paid day off per fortnight. This gives people one less commute while also driving productivity in the business. Some organisations I’m working with on similar pilots are looking at this principle on a weekly, fortnight or monthly basis. Whatever cadence you go for, it can significantly boost the energy of your team, drive much better team cohesion and productivity, while also saving people some commuting costs.
Offer something
If you’re not sure where to begin, then start somewhere. Share this article and see what ideas people want to explore.
One CEO got in touch to tell me that even acknowledging the challenge directly with their people has been appreciated. It begins the conversation and can lead you to codesigning a tailored response that holds value to your teams, now when they need it most, while setting you up for a stronger recovery on the other side.