How to adapt to flexible working & changing work behaviours successfully

We understand that moving to flexible working takes a lot of brainpower for business owners: where to begin? Size? Location? Cost? 

There's a lot of ground to cover so we are going to walk you through it, step by step. This article will walk you through what you need to understand about the changing behaviours and shifting expectations of your employees post-pandemic, including where people want to work, how they work, and how they're managed. 

Step 1: Understand and match the changing behaviours and shifting expectations of your employees. 

How are they changing? 

1. Employees expect to be offered some degree of flexible working. 

In this context, we mean the choice to work from home or the office. Google expects 60% of its approximately 140,000 global employees to spend around three days in the office per week post-pandemic.  Working with your staff to understand their humanistic needs - such as caring, parenting, or pet responsibilities - will greatly illuminate what flexible office space solution makes the most sense for your business. 

2. Employees want collaborative environments to go to. 

Home-working has become "head-down" time and the workspace becomes interactive and communal.

Working from home has many vices and virtues - one of the former being the impact its had on employees' mental health. The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found that 67% of those currently home-working saying felt less connected to their colleagues. Humans are sociable creatures; we riff off each other and need face to face interaction. For the first time, employees’ wellbeing is at the heart of workplace design trends. Workspaces are in prime locations with furniture, storage, light, and air levels all curated to boost workers’ wellness and productivity.

3. The way people are managed needs to adapt to align with flexible working.

Effective and adaptable communication through the ranks is paramount to your business' success.  The Sunday Morning Herald reported micro-managing is responsible for 50% of employees experiencing increased levels of work-related anxiety. 'This figure notably plummets to 7% for employees with a manager who does not micro-manage.' 

Being agile in the way you run your team is becoming increasingly important to align with the working needs and behaviours of a flexible workforce. Check out this post for a definitive list of tips to communicate effectively with your employees flexibly working.

The bottom line: Moving with the times will boost your business in the new normal. 

Get to know your people, understand their needs, and show you value them. It's fairly straightforward when you put it like that, right? 

There are a few more questions to ask yourself though: are you providing the best flexible office space possible to motivate and inspire your team? Have you considered where they're commuting from and to?
 

If these are brand new considerations to your eyes and ears, don't panic. We'll break them all down for you and why they are so crucial in the next few blogs. 

Reach out to Flexioffices for expert advice on how you can implement a flexible office space to your advantage. 

We understand that you are weighing up a lot of factors right now, and that's why we're on hand to help. We are a totally free and impartial service that can understand your needs and present you with a flexible office space solution that makes sense for you right now. Get in touch with us to get the ball rolling.