recruitment Archives

Do Flexible Work Schedules Work?

by LizStevens | Apr 2, 2019 | Blog

Do flexible work schedules work? A new study by IWG found flex work policies are a key factor in winning the war for talent that benefits employers as much as it does employees.

It’s official, flex work is the new norm. More than 80 percent of U.S. employees would choose a job that offered a flexible work schedule over one that didn’t, according to the latest workspace survey by International Workplace Group (IWG). Nearly half of workers consider their commute to be the worst part of their day and one in five employees say they are ‘regularly late’ for work due to travel disruptions.

A flex work policy provides employees with a certain degree of flexibility in determining when and where they work. It’s an attractive perk for employees, but there’s another reason why more than 60 percent of businesses worldwide have adopted flexible work arrangements: there are benefits aplenty for employers, too.

What Do Employers Get From Offering Flexible Work Schedules?

More than 80 percent of companies that adopted flex work policies say that productivity has increased as a result. Close to 70 percent say having a flexible workspace helps them reduce organizational expenses, manage risk and consolidate their portfolios.

Flexible work arrangements could also benefit the U.S. economy. IWG cites a Regus report that estimates by 2030, the U.S. could see an economic boost of as much as $4.5 trillion annually from flex work.

How Flex Work Policies Works

Each organization has its own unique flex work policy. One-fifth of global workers describe flex work as the ability to make some decisions about working hours. A quarter of global employees equate it with being able to manage workloads. More than half of the global workforce views it as being able to choose the type of work location.

When the flex work trend began, flexible scheduling applied primarily to office workers, but that’s not the case any longer. Roughly 70 percent of manufacturers and retailers currently use some degree of flexible working to attract and retain staff.

Why Flexible Work Arrangments Are a Big Deal to Employees

Offering a flexible work option establishes a high level of trust and makes employees feel valued, something that can boost their organizational loyalty.

It reduces some of the stress employees have when scheduling complications arise. When a child is sick, a parent might be able to work from home instead of scrambling to find childcare (and then fretting over paying a premium for last-minute childcare). When an employee has a cold, they don’t have to push themselves to make it to work (where the illness would then spread). Similarly, if an employee has an ongoing health issue, flexibility at work could make it easier when scheduling doctors appointments, treatments, or procedures.

Most importantly, with a flexible work schedule, employees don’t feel stuck on the 9-5 grind they collectively gripe about.

More on Flex Work:

Are Employees Who Work From Home Happier?

What Benefits Do Employees Want Most?

Why You Need a Remote Work Strategy

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

by LizStevens | Dec 18, 2018 | Blog

How do you make traditional work better for freelancers? Freelancers have traditional jobs too and what they want to get from them is predictable income flow and the flexibility to continue their freelance work.

More than one in five freelancers are also employed at established companies and for most, their traditional job is their primary source of income, according to recent research by FlexJobs.

Freelancers and others working in the gig economy are looking for flexibility from potential employers. Striking the right balance between structured work and flexible work arrangements is important for employers who want to stay competitive because unemployment continues to hover at a historic low.

Research by Edelman Intelligence found some form of formal employment is necessary for most freelancers because, in most cities, the average freelancing rate falls well below the compensation needed to afford an apartment independently, and in some cases, even with a roommate.

If freelancing isn’t enough to cover basic housing costs, why are more than 57 million Americans still doing it? More than 90 percent of FlexJobs’ survey respondents said the freelancing lifestyle is important to them because of benefits like a flexible schedule, work-life balance, no commuting, self-development and the freedom to choose where they work. Over 60 percent of freelancers said it had a positive impact on their overall quality of life. Freelancing helped them become healthier, less stressed and they’re either less financially stressed or feel no difference from when they worked in a traditional job.

The two biggest challenges for freelancers are finding clients and having predictable income flow. They also struggled with handling the business aspects of freelancing (taxes, insurance, etc.), getting payment from clients and dealing with the perceptions of freelancers.

Employers likely already have at least one freelancer in the office, though they might not know who it is, because nearly 35 percent of GenXers and Baby Boomers and over 20 percent of Millennials are in the freelance workforce. And most of them aren’t entry-level employees either, more than half of freelancers described themselves at the intermediate or management levels of their careers.

Traditional jobs help freelancers gain predictable income flow but complicate their work-life balance. A normal job could limit the scope of projects they can take on, their availability to meet deadlines and limit timeframes they can meet with potential clients. Finding additional flexibility for freelancers who need it can build company loyalty and boost job satisfaction. Most freelancers are going to need a traditional job to afford housing costs, so why not employ them, give them the flexibility they need and benefit from their tenacious skill set?

How to Improve Gender Diversity in the Workplace

by LizStevens | Nov 19, 2018 | Blog

How can employers improve gender diversity in the workplace? It starts with tracking representation and setting goals for diversity when hiring and promoting employees.

“Progress for women isn’t just slow― it’s stalled,” reads the alarming introduction to LeanIn’s latest report, Women in the Workplace 2018. In the three years they’ve been studying the issue, corporate America has made almost no progress in how women fare.

Hiring is one of biggest drivers of gender representation in the workplace and automated recruitment systems aren’t helping: Even machine learning algorithms are gender biased because what they search for in potential hires is based on historic data, which in most cases favors male candidates.

Women are less likely to be hired at the manager level and they’re far less likely to be promoted into management positions. LeanIn’s research shows for every 100 men promoted to manager, there are less than 80 women promoted. As a result, more than 60 percent of men hold managerial positions compared to less than 40 percent of women.

The study offers “performance bias” as a potential explanation to early gaps in hiring and promoting women. Research on “performance bias” found men are often hired and promoted based on their potential, while women are often hired and promoted based on their track record. “One thing I’ve become used to is having to prove myself constantly, over and over. It’s tiring, and unfortunately, it hasn’t changed a whole lot as I’ve become more senior,” says a Latina woman who is a senior executive with 4 years at the company.

Although it’s commonly thought that women are underrepresented in management because they leave to focus on family, LeanIn found that women and men leave their jobs in similar numbers. Most men and women plan to stay in the workforce when they leave their company. Less than 5 percent of women plan to leave the workforce to focus on family.

If companies start hiring and promoting women and men to manager at equal rates, the report estimates that the U.S. will get close to parity in management over the next 10 years. If employers continue hiring and promoting women at current rates, the number of women in management will increase by just one percentage point over the same ten years.

The underrepresentation of women in uppermanagement is so common it’s normalized. A director recalled a time when she pressed a button to the executive office and someone in the elevator pointed out what floor the interns were on, assuming she was mistaken. A lawyer remembered walking into negotiations she was leading and an older man from the company asked her to take meeting notes.

Most companies say they’re highly committed to gender and racial diversity, but that runs counter to LeanIn’s research on the issue. Less than half of companies track representation and set targets to reach gender and racial diversity. Achieving gender and racial diversity requires more than lip service, it requires planning and careful consideration at each level.

Leaders at all levels need to, well, take the lead. In order to do that they need to understand the problem, receive training to help solve it and be held accountable for making consistent progress towards gender and racial diversity. It’s also up to leadership to foster an inclusive and respectful culture by developing guidelines supported by a clear reporting process and swift consequences for violations.

“Closing the corporate gender gap isn’t a side issue. It’s an economic necessity. Programs and policies designed to reduce bias and ensure fairness don’t just benefit women. They benefit everyone,” the report’s conclusion reads.

How High is Work-Related Stress and What’s Causing it?

by LizStevens | Sep 19, 2018 | Blog

Almost all employees are affected by work-related stress and a new study gives some insight into how high work-related stress is, what causes it, events that make it worse and what employers can do to improve productivity and retention.

Work-related stress affects 94 percent of employees and almost a third of them experience “high” or “unsustainably high” stress, according to a new study by Wrike. Nearly 50 percent of employees said workplace stress makes them “check out.” “Checking out” is estimated to cost US companies $450 to $550 billion in lost productivity annually.

Over 25 percent of employees said they will burn out in the next 12 months if they can’t reduce their stress levels. More than 50 percent have searched for a new job due to stress at work. Almost half of staff turnover is caused by employee burnout and recruiting costs US companies roughly $160 billion a year.

Employees are taking their work-stress home with them. More than 50 percent said work-related stress has had a negative effect on their home life at least once a week. For 10 percent of employees, work-related stress has affected their home life almost every day. Work-related stress caused more than 50 percent of employees to lose sleep.

What’s stressing so many employees out? Poor communication was the top stressor for employees at companies both small and large. It was followed by team members not pulling their weight on projects, though smaller organizations were equally stressed about being overloaded. Bottlenecks, waiting for others to take action, was one of the top stressors for almost 30 percent of employees at companies small and large.

Receiving assignments with unrealistic deadlines were events that had the highest impact on employee stress levels. The second greatest stress inducer was being unable to locate information employees know they’ve seen in the past. For some, too much time spent in meetings meant that they don’t have enough time to do actual work.

Wrike’s study assesses the severity of employee stress and its main drivers. Employers can start to lessen the high levels of stress employees experience by improving communication, adjusting workloads, reviewing information systems and reigning in time spent in meetings.

It could also be advantageous for employers to look into stress management program offerings as an employee benefit. Close to 20 percent of employees said they’ve sought professional help with stress management and if it’s something that’s included in their benefits package that number could be even higher. Investing in the well-being of employees can differentiate an employer and help reduce profits lost to productivity and turnover each year.

What You Need to Know About Age Discrimination

by LizStevens | Aug 7, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest news on unemployment, age discrimination, hiring tech and retention.

The July jobs report from the Labor Department shows that unemployment has dropped to 3.9 percent. Employers will need to develop new strategies to build successful workforces with unemployment is at its lowest rate since 2000.

The latest study from AARP gives employers some insight into a key demographic – older workers. AARP found that most experienced employees enjoy or feel useful doing their work, but more than 60 percent of them have witnessed or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Over 40 percent of older job seekers are still asked for age-related information from potential employers.

Older employees are talented, tested and want to stay in the workforce. Employers who value experienced workers might have the advantage in today’s increasingly competitive labor market.

How to Stay Competitive

What We’re Reading

New Tech Improves Hiring Practices. Several new platforms help employers eliminate hiring bias and connect employers with quality hires for their industry. What are the apps and how do they work?

Avoid Turnover Disasters. Turnover can cost 6 to 9 months’ of an employee’s salary, and coupled with low unemployment it could take even longer to find a valuable replacement. Try these 7 helpful tips to improve retention.

Find the Right Talent. It’s no secret that the way people hunt for jobs has changed and it’s critical to get on potential candidates’ radars. Use these 10 strategies to reach job seekers in the digital age.

Healthcare Expenses for Emergencies. A supplemental health program that aims to speed up the payment of unforeseen medical claims can help the 40 percent of Americans that can’t afford an unexpected expense of $400. How does it work?

Implicit Bias Workshops Don’t Solve the Problem. Implicit bias isn’t something that can be fixed with one workshop, it’s something that requires continued awareness. What that looks like.

Soft Skills Your Employees Need. Competition can be good for morale, but empathy can be even better. Learn how to spot emotional intelligence and promote empathy in leadership.