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What the staff want

19th Jan 2012
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January 19 - We asked our staff what they wanted most this year if pay rises were restricted to the rate we can pass on to customers and to promotions.

The message came back loud and clear, as it almost always does. They want more opportunity to be flexible on holiday, including unpaid leave and some flexibility in the working week.

That isn't always possible - but we'd be crazy to ignore it where we can.

Thinking caps are on. Keeping people happy with low cash flow impact has to have high worth. 

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By landscaper
19th Jan 2012 16:10

variable starting times

One job I had we could all start between 8 and 10 and finish correspondingly between 4 and 6 (or something similar)-  Flexi-time but without record keeping.

I have never forgotten it - it was fantastic for all sorts of reasons.  At the time I was young and always found it difficult getting up in the morning but always managed to arrive by 10!  Working mums found it so much easier to get children to school or doctors etc without having to battle with traffic jams and arranging cover.

There was telephone cover for an extra hour at the beginning and end of the day and staggered lunch hours.  I know it can't work for all organisations and it means trusting employees to stay past 5 or arrive before 9 but the benefits outweigh those who will swing the lead - who will swing it anyway!

 

Good luck.

 

 

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By RussellD
19th Jan 2012 16:53

Flexible workplace

A friend who speaks internationally about the world of work and how to attract and keep 'talent' talks of a number of different paradigm shifts over the next 10 years (all with a theme of flexibility) for example:

* Work life balance died - the concept of 9 to 5 is already dead.  Employees have blackberrys or work mobiles for email, calls etc. all out of hours.  Employees are happy to work into the evening or check their schedule to prepare for the week on a Sunday night.  In return they expect to be able to easily get time to go to the doctor or to watch their child's sports day or even just go shopping during the work day.  Work life balance has been superceded by work life integration - our thoughts about work dont stop when we get home after 5pm nor do our personal thoughts stop at 9am promptly.  We are not compartmentalised robots.

* Own technology - companies seldom have the latest technology because of the added overhead.  Employees will increasingly refuse to use outdated technology - but are likely to be absolutely fine to use their own technology for work - eg. phone, laptop - even software and other tools. How companies protect their intellectual property and prevent theft of company resources will be a challenge, but will have to be addressed.  Imagine no more need to buy a new staff member a computer or phone. 

I look forward to hearing how CEO works on making the workplace more flexible.

 

 

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By l.laakso
20th Jan 2012 11:03

Flexi time

I work for a firm that uses flexi time and I must agree that it is a fantastic concept. If I get stuck in traffic in the morning, or want to sleep an extra half an hour, I just go in a bit later and leave later. Similarly if I want to take a longer lunch break to go to the doctor's, I make up the time by coming in earlier or leaving later. In our department people have a variety of preferred starting times, which means that there are always people around between the core hours of the day, in fact usually anything from 7.30 to 6.30-7 is covered.

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By RussellD
20th Jan 2012 12:09

No limits to holiday

I read recently about a company that had no maximum holiday allowance.  Provided that each person's work was complete and they had arranged for someone to cover their role, they could have as much holiday as they wished.  Unsurprisingly no one abused it.

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By neileg
20th Jan 2012 12:14

I work flexi

I have flexible working with no core hours. My colleagues and I have different working patterns, some regular early start, early finish, some more like 9 to 5 but we keep each other informed if we are breaking our own pattern. It's great for the employee but there are also wins for the employer. Time off for doctors apppintments is your own time and when you get caught in a traffic jam, you start work when you clock in. There are other situations where employers operating fixed hours will loose the odd hour here and there but don't with flexi time..

We can also, with managers agreement, work a compressed week where you do a full weeks worth of hours but over 4 days instead of 5. In some circumstances we work 4 on 4 off. We can also take unpaid leave but this requires a justification.

The key to this working is that everything is done by agreement. Employer and employee know when the hours will be worked and they have to fit with the requirements of the job. Being flexible has benefits to all parties and the financial cost to the employer is pretty close to zero.

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By chatman
20th Jan 2012 13:39

Greenstones

I think Greenstones is the firm which allows certain staff to work whenever they want, as long as they get their work done. They lost out in the AWeb awards to a firm that helps extremely rich people avoid paying tax on their massive (presumably unearned) wealth.

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