Work Schedule Flexibility

 The pandemic literally changed how we all view work. It increased the work-life balance by 43% of people surveyed by Qualtrics. We all know that the old-school mentality bosses are terrified that people will take advantage of this flexibility. However, there is this cool little thing called gift exchange theory that is responsible for 55% of people working more hours remotely than at the office. This is where people feel grateful for the gift of flexibility, so they feel obligated to work longer and harder for receiving it. They also want to keep their work schedule this way since they like it, so they work harder to prove that they can still get the same job done at home, maybe even better, then being at the office. We thought this little tid bit was useful and interesting. It seems like all sunshine and rainbows, right? Well, no, it’s not that simple. There are pros and cons to every situation and this one is no different. Let’s first talk about the pros for employees and employers.

Advantages for Employees:

1. Better work-life balance

   1. Self-care is easier (mental and physical)

   2. Pursue passions outside of work

2. Reduced commute/lowered carbon footprint

3. More control over schedule

   1. Work in the hours where you feel most productive

4. Child care isn’t a problem

5. Autonomy

Advantages for Employers:

1. Boosts employee morale

2. Build trust through employee autonomy

3. Lower turnover

   1. Recruit and retains better talent

   2. Positive brand image

   3. Employees will take fewer sick days

Disadvantages for employees:

1.     Work life and personal life boundaries are blurred

2.     Difficult to bond with other employees

3.     Disconnect between at home employees and in office staff

4.     Less structure

Disadvantages for employers:

1.     Some employees are not self-motivated without supervision

2.     Compressed work schedules decrease client availability

3.     Difficult to create a work culture

4.     Harder to arrange meetings

While there is no right or wrong way to approach flexible work scheduling, we believe that there are more positive results that come of it. Locomotive is a fully remote team that gets it done in many parts of the world. Our employees are happy, able to work on other things and they make sure that every job gets their maximum effort! This may not work for every company and we understand that so we hope that this list can help you decide if that style of business is right for you!