The Importance of Flexibility in the Workplace
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The Importance of Flexibility in the Workplace
Introduction
Flexibility in workplaces is emerging as a point of concern for both organizations and employees because of changes that surface in today’s jobs. Adopting flexibility could mean allowing employees to make their schedules, choose tasks, and even work remotely instead of reporting to physical places at the specified time of the day. Therefore, employing flexibility at the workplace by organizations means they embrace changes, which can be a beneficial action if well managed. Flexibility in the workplace should be encouraged because it benefits both the organization and the employees through innovation, improved productivity, and reduced dependency on co-workers, although it reduces physical interaction among employees.
According to Jena and Memon (2018), employees can improve their contribution to the organization’s knowledge assets through innovation if given the liberty to work flexibly. Employees confined to the same location and routine works are less likely to innovate and grow. However, working from different places, chosen time, and projects can help them explore things that can result in innovation. For instance, workers who choose the type of tasks they would like to work on instead of being assigned can research more and discover new knowledge because they are interested in the subject. As such, those employees are likely to progress in their careers, and the organization gains more input. Giving them the freedom to workers can also help the workers feel free and concentrate more than when strictly required to do assigned tasks.
Flexibility can result in higher productivity of employees, thereby improving the overall performance of the company. Employees’ productivity can significantly improve if they enjoy what they do and are free to do it (Rožman, Treven & Čančer, 2017). Where better concentration and innovation are achieved from individual workers, the overall performance is likely to improve. This kind of scenario is a win-win situation for both the company and the employees. Some workers may show up for work but may not be productive, but if they are allowed to define what they want to achieve, they can be better human assets. Close supervision at the workplace could also cause workers to panic and may not be as productive as those allowed to do things flexibly.
Flexibility can influence the independence of thoughts and work since workers handle different tasks at different locations. Working in a usual office set up could mean workers are close physically at every time (Smith, Gilmer & Stockdale, 2019). This closeness may encourage some people to seek constant assistance from co-workers when faced with difficulties. However, if individuals choose their tasks and work independently, they develop a sense of independence in work. This independence can also improve individual workers’ decision-making and performance, which is critical for leaders. Additionally, flexibility at the workplace helps an organization deal with challenges that can hinder physical workplace access, such as those brought by the COVID-19 pandemic requiring people to work from home.
The three key flexibility factors that break the barriers of physical location, time and job content should be, however, scrutinized by individual organizations to assess how practical it can be to grant them all to employees. Depending on the type of job, some factors may not be fully embraced. For instance, a hospital job may require the doctor’s physical presence while a computer programmer can work entirely remotely and choose the type of tasks to handle. Therefore, it is essential to embrace flexibility to address changes that occur to organizations and industries in general. However, it can be argued, on the other hand, that it can reduce knowledge sharing and interactions.
References
Jena, L. K., & Memon, N. Z. (2018). Does workplace flexibility usher innovation? A moderated mediation model on the enablers of innovative workplace behavior. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 19(1), 5-17.
Rožman, M., Treven, S., & Čančer, V. (2017). Motivation and Satisfaction of Employees in the Workplace. Business systems research journal: international journal of the Society for Advancing Business & Information Technology (BIT), 8(2), 14-25.
Smith, E. F., Gilmer, D. O., & Stockdale, M. S. (2019). The importance of culture and support for workplace flexibility: An ecological framework for understanding flexibility support structures. Business Horizons, 62(5), 557-566.