In the ever-increasing battle to recruit and hire great employees for your business, you need to find ways to set yourself apart from competitors who are likely looking to hire these same people. One way to do this is to offer flexible work arrangements. Here are five different options to consider offering.
1. Flexible Hours
This is one of the easiest options for employers to offer and very popular with employees. This arrangement appeals to people by allowing them to work a 40-hour week they need to pay the bills while satisfying both their personal and your business requirements. Most commonly, a company will set core hours in which an employee must be present. These core hours then give them the flexibility to start earlier, take time off during the day and/or work later.
2. Part-Time Hours
Part-time employment can work well for many different positions. There are many ways to arrange part-time hours, but the most common is working a shortened day such as 9 am to 3 pm. Working less than 32 hours in a week appeals to people who have obligations that restrict their availability for full-time work. Most commonly this involves looking after a child or a parent. Whatever the reason, offering part-time work arrangements can help you recruit skilled people who just can’t work full-time. The key to success in this arrangement is to ensure that the work that needs to be completed by this employee can be completed with part-time hours as it is unlikely that these employees can work overtime.
3. Job Sharing
Sharing a position between two different employees is another great way to attract people who can not work full-time hours. Like part-time hours, there are many ways to arrange a job-sharing schedule including both employees working half days or alternating days. One advantage to this arrangement is that it allows you to capitalize on the strengths of two employees for the same position. The caution with this arrangement is that the communication between those two individuals must be strong. They need to be able to ensure that the other person knows exactly what is going on and what still needs to be done.
4. Telecommuting / Remote Working
These two options involve allowing employees to complete some (telecommuting) or all (remote working) of their work outside of the office. This work arrangement has the added benefit of reducing the amount of office space required with the reduced number of employees working in the office at any given time. The benefits to employees are that it reduces or eliminates commutes, offers flexible work hours and allows them to work from where ever they want. The keys to making this arrangement work are technology, communication, and trust.
5. Temporary / Contract
There are an increasing number of skilled people who prefer to work on a temporary or contract basis. What some are beginning to refer to as the gig economy. This arrangement gives these employees the flexibility to have more time off for their personal pursuits such as travel or charity work. Most commonly, temporary employees are hired from temp agencies on short notice for coverage for sick leave and vacations. Contract employees are used for projects or any time a particular skill set is required for a short time.
Providing flexible work arrangements can be a big competitive advantage when it comes to recruiting and hiring your industries top talent. Increasingly, Millennials (Gen Y) and Gen Z workers will be looking for these types of work arrangements. The key to ensuring that this can be a win-win for you and your employees is to take the time to figure how and if these flexible work arrangements can work for your business before you offer them.
Does your business offer flexible work arrangements? Tell me about them in the comment section below. I would love to hear from you. Thanks.
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