Giving
employees the freedom to choose where and when they work, can keep them from
looking elsewhere and save companies the considerable long-term costs of
employee turnover.
According to
the sage journal survey conducted in America last year:
• 79% of
candidates would pick the job with flexibility over one without
• 74%
believe flexible working improves employee retention
• 71% think
it makes employees more loyal
• 73% said
flexible working lowers stress levels amongst staff
• 59% would
turn down a job completely if it didn't offer flexible working
Flexible work options can reduce employee
absences and turnover, both of which typically cost employers a hefty sum in
lost productivity and extensive replacement costs. In fact, The Bureau of
National Affairs estimates that over $11 billion is lost annually
due to employee turnover.
Would you turn down a promotion in favor of more flexible working?
Being offered a promotion is of course
very flattering, but sometimes the lure of a shiny new title and more money
just isn’t enough for some people. The thought of longer working hours, business
travel and more stress means they would rather take a lower paid role if it
means getting their work-life balance sorted.
Flexible working is more than just working
from home, not only is it not an option for some job roles, but sometimes being
flexible on working hours or using skype to have a meeting instead of traveling
to the office can make you feel appreciated and much more willing to go that
extra bit further for your employer because you know you are valued. So its win, win. The employee is happier
because they can be there for their child’s parents evening and the employer is
happy because they are getting a dedicated employee who is giving 110%.
What are your thoughts? Is flexibility important to you?
When you look at the attitude towards careers you can clearly see how much peoples views on work have changed and people are no longer loyal to one company. But why is that? is that because people feel they are worth more and want to work for a company that can see that or is that because loyalty isn't rewarded as much anymore by companies? Maybe we all strive for change and progression and we need a bit of variety in our lives? What ever the reason, it seems the days of people staying with a company for 30 years are a thing of the past. 
One thing that stood out to me was the communication preference (above). Generation Y which is the generation that is now entering the work place for the first time are more likely to send an email or text message then have a face to face meeting. You can't really grasp someones tone over an email and things can get misconstrued and problems can arise with how different people can take an email, which was not intended to cause offence, but does. There was that case years ago where someone took their boss to a tribunal over his use of capital letters in an email, but then with an email you do have an email thread so can keep a record of what was said and when, so i guess there are benefits to the old and new way of doing things. 
I think one thing that you can take from this when you look at our "Aspirations" (above) is that whether its in bricks and mortar or careers, our home life and the feeling of security is still the most important thing to us. 
