Managing benefits and risks

opportunity : Flexible Workplace :
Managing benefits and risks

Tips and Tools

Model administrative arrangements: flexi-place

Model administrative arrangements:
flexible working hours

Tips for working at home

Components of the flexible workplace
1 In these guidelines, “flexible workplace” refers to a work environment in which staff may have access to working arrangements that include:

flexi-place: flexibility of the staff member’s location – practices such as working from home or from an alternative office;
flexi-time: flexibility of the hours, days or months worked by full-time staff each year – practices such as flexible work hours or flexible yearly periods and compressed work schedules;
flexi-job: flexibility to work other than full-time – practices such as part-time employment and shared positions.

2 This list is not exhaustive. In fact, it is just a start. Centers may want to introduce many more options for practices that suit their unique circumstances.

What are the benefits?
Benefits for Centers
3 Productivity is usually enhanced by the introduction of flexible working conditions, although the overall benefits to the organization will tend to be realized in the long term. In the short term, there may be a slight fall in productivity as new work practices are piloted and refined.

4 The work itself still gets completed. It simply takes place:

in a different location than the staff member’s usual workplace (flexi-place);
at different times than conventional working hours (flexi-time);
in different ways than conventional full-time employment (flexi-work).

5 In some cases, staff members’ flexible working arrangements will be an ongoing feature of their employment. In other cases, the flexible working arrangements will be for a specific period, designed to accommodate particular life-cycle issues, such as the need to:

engage in academic studies;
care for an infant;
care for a sick family member, possibly requiring travel to another country.

6 The single exception to the rule about improving productivity is when changing from full-time to part-time employment. However, even in some of these situations, effectiveness is actually improved, even though the overall volume of work output is reduced. Part-time staff often become brilliant time managers, expert at juggling work, family responsibilities, study and other commitments.

7 Consequently the Center benefits because:

the required work is still undertaken, probably more effectively than under rigid employment conditions, and
the Center optimizes its ability to attract and, particularly, retain good staff who would have to look for another employer if their circumstances did not allow them to work within rigid traditional employment practices.

8 It is important to note that many Centers already have implemented some of these practices and also have developed skills necessary for supporting a flexible workplace. Practices such as flexi-place generally have been implemented only on an individual, temporary basis for specific staff members in specific circumstances.

9 The most common application of flexi-time is for scientists and researchers who need time and space to concentrate on writing. There are also success stories from Centers that have approved the arrangements for up to a year, or even ongoing arrangements. The Centers’ willingness and preparedness to apply flexibility have been critical to their ability to retain valuable staff. Their next challenge will be to scale up – to think in terms of flexible work opportunities for other staff categories.

Alert:
we already have the skills needed for a flexible workplace!
Most Centers already manage global teams dispersed across geographic locations and time zones. They need only apply the same type of management techniques to staff members working with flexi-place or flexi-time arrangements.

Benefits for staff
10 For staff members, the principal benefit of a flexible workplace is being able to organize their work in a way that reduces distractions caused by studies, family or community commitments, or the distractions of their workplace.

11 Flexible working arrangements also offer staff members possibilities of:

reducing their costs for childcare, transportation or other daily work-related expenses;
reducing their commuting time;
avoiding the necessity of taking a religion-based holiday that is irrelevant to their personal beliefs;
having the right to take leave for religious observances that are not accommodated by the Center’s official holidays;
extending their period of leave for annual holidays (e.g. by electing not to take religious holidays and adding those days to their annual leave).

What are the risks?
To the center? To the staff member?
Risks to the Center
12 While personal productivity of individual staff members may be enhanced, their absence from the normal workplace or during normal hours may have a negative impact on team productivity. It also may be difficult to provide flexible workplace arrangements for staff who provide routine services throughout the day, such as security or library staff. Managers may need to impose special requirements on arrangements for staff with significant interaction with partner organizations.

13 The timing of meetings becomes an important issue when flexible working hours are introduced. Routine meetings should be scheduled during core hours as a matter of good management. However, there always will be all-day meetings or seminars and presentations that cannot be accommodated in core hours. Consequently, staff members working with flexible arrangements need to exercise some flexibility too and do their best to attend key events.

14 Many potential risks can be overcome with some lateral thinking. Where Centers have established effective planning and performance management systems, many of the obvious risks are minimized through having agreed action plans, deliverables and deadlines.

Alert
“The expectation to have key staff always on hand can be indication of a disorganized work culture, where managers spend their days being reactive and solving problems that wouldn’t arise if work were properly managed.”

(from “Being an e-manager”, Flexibility Ltd., www.flexibility.co.uk, the online journal of flexible work)

15 In the short term, adopting flexible working practices may cause a slight reduction in overall productivity while managers adjust their unit work plans, service delivery plans, etc., to accommodate the new arrangements. However this is a transitional, short-term cost and is more than compensated by longer-term productivity.

16 There is also the risk of staff abusing the system. This risk is covered by:

introducing flexible practice on a trial or pilot basis, and
dealing promptly and decisively with delinquent behavior.

Risks to the staff member
17 Staff members with flexible working arrangements risk becoming “invisible” if they work at different locations or in different time periods than their colleagues. This can be reflected in three ways.

18 First, staff members with flexible working arrangements may receive less detailed guidance from their supervisor and be less involved with their colleagues because they have less face-to-face time. Because they are not seen “starting early and finishing late”, they may be perceived as less committed than colleagues who choose to work long hours at the office.

19 This risk is especially evident during annual staff evaluations. If staff members with agreed flexible working arrangements are assessed in the context of the Center’s “conventional” arrangements, the evaluation may be distorted to the staff member’s disadvantage.

20 These risks are minimized if Centers have established effective performance management systems. When there are agreed action plans, deliverables and deadlines, evaluations are based on results rather than working patterns.

21 Second, staff members with flexible working arrangements typically have less interaction with their colleagues. This is particularly true of informal interaction where they would share key or peripheral information about their projects or about impending organizational changes (including “office politics”). These risks can be managed by scheduling regular visits interspersed with good use of the telephone and e-mail.

22 Third, in some countries, flexible working arrangements (e.g. transferring from full-time employment to part-time) may significantly compromise a staff member’s employment benefits.

Potential logistical problems
23 Depending on the nature and duration of the flexible practices agreement between a Center and staff member, a range of logistical issues needs to be addressed. For example, will a staff member at an alternate location need:

a computer? If so, who is going to provide it?
Internet access? If so, who is going to provide it?
online access to e-mail, or to Center databases?
to make expensive/long-distance telephone calls?

All of these issues have ramifications in terms of technical input required, costs, security of databases and need for special approval.

24 These issues usually will present no problems for a staff member working from home (e.g. writing a report or technical paper) for a few days or for part of a day every week.

25 Some Centers have agreed on arrangements that allow the staff member to relocate to a different site, thousands of kilometers away, for several months. This latter arrangement is actually creating an alternative, full-time work location, and the costs can be quite substantial. In every approved case, the benefits have been assessed as outweighing the costs. Nevertheless it would be foolish to ignore the potential for some flexible work arrangements to be accompanied by significant financial costs.

How can we manage the risks?
Managing risks to the Center
26 It is important to recognize that the policies that underpin these working arrangements are discretionary. They are not entitlements, such as having a certain number of days for holiday leave each year. Instead, the policies typically:

may be applied only with management’s specific approval;
may be determined on a case-by-case basis; and
may have specific conditions associated with them.

27 Consequently, a flexible working arrangement for any staff member may be set up with controls such as special reporting arrangements, and they may be rescinded if the arrangements prove unworkable or are abused.

28 It may also be advisable to implement such policies on a trial or pilot basis such as an 18-month trial with its first evaluation (of a specific location or a specific work group) after 12 months. That way, by the time the trial ends, the management can use evaluation results to determine whether to:

confirm the policy by transforming it into a permanent Center employment policy; or
modify the policy to accommodate any problems experienced during the provisional period.

Managing risks to the individual
29 The single greatest risk to staff members is in the context of annual performance evaluations. Staff members can help lessen the risk by prefacing their summary of achievements with a reminder of the agreed flexible working arrangements. In the case of reduced work hours, the agreement should include an explicit list of those things that will no longer be done or will be done by others.

30 In order to overcome the consequences of less interaction with their professional colleagues, staff members working away from their normal work location or working non-conventional hours might need to be more pro-active in sustaining communication. This can include programming telephone conversations, e-mails and special visits to balance the lack of informal workplace contacts.

31 If staff members’ salaries or benefits will be reduced by adopting flexible work arrangements, the Center must determine the extent of reduction and advise them beforehand, both in person and in writing, of the consequences.

Caution
• flexible workplace policies should only be taken up at the initiative of the individual staff member.
• it is not appropriate for management to enforce flexible workforce practices arbitrarily, e.g. when faced with a funding shortfall crisis. In such circumstances, the arrangements for accommodating the crisis should be negotiated with staff in the normal manner for such events.