You know that flexible work has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the most preferred ways to work and do business. Fortune 500 companies as well as Mom and Pop shops are all harnessing the power of flex. You get it. But still, you worry that your brick-and-mortar biz will suffer once you set your employees free to work from anywhere that they choose. There are ways to dip your toes into the world of flex in order to test flexible work options without turning your entire in-office staff into full-time telecommuters—at least, not yet!
Test flexible work options for your company with these five strategies:
1. Work-from-Anywhere Week
Just because your team can work from home doesn’t actually mean that they have to work at home. Encourage your crew to take advantage of their newfound remote status by finding a new place to work.
A work-from-anywhere week can be just that—it can be a beautiful beach in Bora Bora—or for those who want to stick closer to home (but not work from home), a local coffee shop or park will do. The idea is to get your team used to working from anywhere, using their ingenuity to find good WiFi and still get their work done, too.
2. No Meetings Mondays
It’s safe to say that meetings can be a time-drain and can sap your energy. In order to stop zapping your team’s creativity, mark one workday as one that is sans meetings.
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And since Mondays typically are tough for everyone, it’s an ideal day to pick to promote a fun day of flex—and no meetings!
3. Work-from-Home Wednesdays
If you’re not into giving your team an entire week of working remotely, you can definitely start slowly.
Choose one day that’s typically not too trying for the entire team and allow them to work flexibly that day. And since Wednesdays are a hump day for everyone, give your team a much-needed boost by not having to drag themselves into the office and can telecommute instead.
4. Flexible Hours Week
Maybe you need your entire team in the office, but you still want them to enjoy some sort of flexible work. So assign one week in which workers can adjust their work schedules as needed.
One employee might come in late because he has to take his parent to the doctor, while another might need to leave early to make it to her child’s writing celebration. Allowing your workers the ability to stop and start their day as needed can help them greatly—and make coming into the office a little easier to bear.
5. Figure Out Your Flex Day
The world of flexible work has many faces. While some people might prefer to work remotely full-time as a telecommuter, others might want to work a compressed workweek (working longer hours four days a week so they can have the fifth day free), or even split a full-time job with another part-time worker as part of a job share.
So be flexible and give the power to design their workday as they need on Figure Out Your Flex Day. It might mean working from home, leaving early, working longer hours to have a Friday free, etc. Ultimately, it will give your workers control over their schedules, their productivity—and their lives.
Implementing a flexible work policy doesn’t have to be all or nothing. By trying out various ways to incorporate flexible work options into your company’s policy, you’ll find that flex works for both your workers and your company.
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Readers, have you been resistant to implementing a flex work policy? Would some of these more fun ways to test flexible work options entice you to try it? Let us know in the comments below!
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