Every week for the past six months we’ve had a reason adopt WiseWork. We’re now almost through the alphabet and up to the most difficult letter – “X”.
You’ve probably heard of Xenophobia, which doesn’t sound like a good reason to work in a flexible way, but we’ve chosen the opposite “Xenophilia”. According to Wikipedia it means an affection for unknown/foreign objects, manners, cultures or people. That seemed an appropriate description of a way of working that’s inclusive, allowing variations depending on the individual’s needs.
We’ve moved on from the age when all work was the same and everyone had to do it in a fixed way. We now live in an age of choice. We choose to live the rest of our lives as individuals, why should we have to conform to a rigid way of working, just because historically we had no choice. Technology has freed us up from many of the restrictions on when and where work can be done, so let’s move with the times.
The idea of giving people a legal right to work flexibly has now entered the political agenda. But we shouldn’t need to force employers offer flexible working against their will. They should be doing it because it’s good for business. If people have a choice in how they get their work done, they are more productive anymore loyal. It’s good for business.
Does your organisation need legislation to force it to make flexible working the norm, or will your managers realise it’s the best option all round?