I’m willing to bet we’ve all felt stifled by the rigid 9-to-5 work schedule \u2014 especially on our productivity both in and out of the office.<\/p>\n
For many workers, a flexible schedule is the answer. This types of schedule allows you to work when you’re most productive and gives you the autonomy you need to create an ideal work-life balance, however that looks to you.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Here, we’ll cover what a flexible work schedule looks like and explore its pros. cons, and surprising outcomes.<\/p>\n It’s important to remember that flex hours doesn’t equate to less hours<\/em>. In fact, as you’ll read later, employees actually clock in more hours <\/a>working from home. Further, there is still structure to this type of schedule: employees must work a certain number of hours, or come up with an alternative agreement with their employer regarding office hours versus remote time.<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty of science to suggest flexible work schedules are critical for happier, more productive <\/a>employees and a more successful company overall.<\/p>\n For instance, a recent study by Qualtrics<\/span> found a whopping 93%<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of employees<\/a> feel the way they work has “fundamentally and forever” changed since the pandemic, with the most favorable changes being flexible schedules.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the same study, 43% of employees feel their work-life balance has increased over the past two years, along with their overall happiness and job satisfaction.<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, there are pros and cons to flexible schedules, just like there are pros and cons to a rigid nine-to-five job. But, since flexible schedules are becoming more typical nowadays, we\u2019ve compiled a list of everything good, bad, and surprising about implementing flexible work hours at your office. Take a look:<\/p>\n If you make your own hours, you can ensure those hours adapt to your family and social life demands. For instance, we have parents at HubSpot who make their hours fit around their children\u2019s daycare schedules: they work early in the morning, take a break in the afternoon to pick up their kids, and then resume work later in the evening.<\/p>\n Or, perhaps your flex schedule is less rigid than that \u2014 maybe you just want time to see your son\u2019s soccer games, or your sister\u2019s graduation, and you need flexibility to manipulate your work schedule without taking time off.<\/p>\n Emily MacIntyre<\/a>, HubSpot\u2019s former Marketing Team Development Manager, agrees that there are pros and cons to flexible schedules in regards to parenting.<\/p>\n She tells me, \u201cThere are often in-office events after work that I have to miss out on, because I need to be home. But I get to see my daughter, and spend time with her each night, so it\u2019s a trade-off.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, a flexible schedule can go a long way towards maintaining a healthy work-life balance and protecting important relationships in your life.<\/p>\n It might sound strange, but having the option to occasionally put your personal needs before work can help you find more joy throughout your day.<\/p>\n Self-care can be anything from a noon cycling class to finding time to meditate in the park \u2014 anything activity that makes you feel better able to tackle your responsibilities with a clear mind.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, your employee\u2019s passions can\u2019t always fit outside a nine-to-five work schedule. Sometimes that poetry class starts at four, and other times your hiking group leaves at noon on a Friday.<\/p>\n There are a few reasons it\u2019s important to give employees the freedom to pursue other passions. First, passion can encourage innovative ideas<\/a>. The more well-rounded your employees are, the more likely they are to apply unconventional solutions to your company\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n Also, as previously mentioned, happier employees are more productive<\/a>. And, lastly, if your employees can find outlets outside of work to pursue their passions, they\u2019re less likely to feel unsatisfied<\/a> in their current role.<\/p>\n For me, personally, this is the single most important benefit to flexible schedules: I work insanely well in the mornings. On some mornings, it feels like I can finish two-weeks worth of work before noon. But then, three or four p.m. strikes, it becomes a struggle to even write a grocery list.<\/p>\n On the other hand, one of my coworkers does best when he can come into the office around 10 a.m., and then work, head-down, later into the night.<\/p>\n Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working<\/a>, <\/em>writes about the importance of working like a sprinter. He says it\u2019s important to work intensely and distraction-free for a period of time, but equally critical to take regular renewal breaks to recover from that intense work period.<\/p>\n Ultimately, your employees aren\u2019t all going to be productive at the exact same time. Flexibility allows them to become better workers \u2014 they will get everything accomplished during the hours they want, and they won\u2019t feel burnt out from sitting at their desks during times they are unproductive.<\/p>\n Recently, the average one-way commute in the US<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0increased to a new high of 27.6 minutes<\/a>. <\/span>That\u2019s almost five hours a week wasted.<\/p>\n Another study<\/a> found employee happiness decreases as commute times increase. Ultimately, a long commute can drive employees to search for companies closer to home or with different hours.<\/p>\n An easy way to improve employee satisfaction is to allow commuters the option to avoid traffic by leaving even just thirty minutes later. It can also positively impact your employee’s level of energy and productivity.<\/p>\n People like control over their schedules \u2014 it enables them to feel fully in charge of their work and personal lives, and makes them feel like their company trusts them.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s Culture Code<\/a> recognizes the importance of autonomy, saying, “Results matter more than the number of hours we work. Results matter more than where we produce them.” And, referring to the Economist graph we mentioned earlier, we can see it\u2019s true \u2014 people are more productive even when they work fewer hours, so why not let people choose whichever time they need to commit to deliver the best results?<\/p>\n Siobh\u00e1n McGinty<\/a>, a Senior Team Manager in HubSpot’s Dublin office, says her flexible schedule gives her the opportunity to “live my best life. I enjoy getting up at 7 a.m., clearing my emails, enjoying my coffee and getting some work out of the way early on in the day. I also enjoy taking two hours off in the middle of the day to go to the gym, or do yoga, or \u2014 if it\u2019s pay day \u2014 get a massage.”<\/p>\n Flexible schedules have been shown to increase employee productivity and overall morale<\/a>. Ultimately, you can use the benefits of a flexible schedule as a selling point for hiring better talent.<\/p>\n Offering flexible schedules is a good way for your company to attract talent and stand out from competitors in the industry, particularly as flex hours and remote work rise in popularity and employees begin to expect it from their next job.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve covered seven different ways flexible schedules can benefit both employers and employees. But like any work arrangement, there are also some downsides to consider before committing to becoming a flexible workplace. Here are a few risks associated with flexible schedules.<\/p>\n If everyone has different schedules, figuring out everyone\u2019s availability can get tricky \u2014 for instance, perhaps you can\u2019t have any nine a.m. meetings because three people on your team don\u2019t arrive until 10 a.m. This gets even harder if your team works around the globe, or if you need to schedule meetings with clients who work the traditional nine-to-five.<\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019re working from home and your roommate asks you to go to a cycling class at noon, and suddenly it\u2019s three p.m. and you\u2019ve still got a ton of work to do. Or maybe your kids interrupt meetings and calls with pleas for trips to the pool.<\/p>\n Whatever the case, life intervenes more drastically when you\u2019re working flexible hours, particularly if you\u2019re working remote. Plus, if all the people in your life work nine-to-five, they might try to pressure you into plans that are inconvenient for your schedule, since you “make your own schedule anyway.” Drawing boundaries between personal life and work can get difficult.<\/p>\n Besides having a tough time getting into work mode when you\u2019re tempted by your personal life, it\u2019s also often challenging to shut off “work mode” when you can technically work whenever you want. Maybe it\u2019s eight p.m. and you simply can\u2019t relax when your desk, and all those piles of work, is within view.<\/p>\n During such instances, it\u2019s important you separate work from the rest of your life as much as possible, even creating a physical boundary by closing your office door when you leave.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re working remote, there\u2019s very little structure. With that freedom to take breaks, you might suddenly find you\u2019re getting very little done.<\/p>\n Working remotely often requires more focus and discipline than working in an office. You\u2019ll need to set your own rigid structure and stick to it, or you might risk your performance sliding as you take more TV breaks or spend precious productivity hours folding laundry.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got a team that works from wherever, whenever, it can be hard to pencil in time to develop organic, authentic relationships between your team members. It just doesn\u2019t happen as naturally as it would if everyone sat beside one another 9 to 5 and digressed into talks about the latest Bachelorette<\/em> episode.<\/p>\n One way to counteract this is to plan fun corporate team-building activities<\/a>, but you might still need to work with everyone\u2019s flex hours or remote time.<\/p>\n Siobh\u00e1n McGinty admits remote work in particular can get lonely. Here’s what she suggest: “To overcome that, I set up virtual ‘water cooler chats’ with people on the team if I have 15-30 mins between meetings. It also helps to maintain rapport.”<\/p>\n She also says she \u201cpracticed\u201d going remote by initially working from home a few days a week, and eventually working her way up to full-time remote, and admits while rewarding, it\u2019s also difficult.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve explored some pros and cons of a flexible schedule for employees and employers, but there are some additional surprising facts you should know when deciding if flexible schedules is right for you and your company.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re worried about employees taking advantage of flexible hours and working an hour a day before hitting the beach, don\u2019t be \u2014 a recent report by Owl Labs found that\u00a0<\/span>55% of respondents<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>say they work more hours remotely than at the physical office.<\/span><\/p>\n One explanation for this is known as the gift exchange theory<\/a>, which is the idea that you\u2019re grateful when your employer gives you a flexible schedule and you see it as a gift, which you feel obligated to repay by working harder and longer. You want to prove you deserve the flexible schedule, so you push yourself to work over eight hours a day.<\/p>\n A study conducted by the American Sociological Review<\/a> found workers with flex hours slept better, felt healthier, and were less stressed than their nine-to-five counterparts. Overall, the group with flex hours felt happier than the group with a rigid schedule.<\/p>\n But, most surprisingly, as noted by the New York Times<\/a>, is \u201cthe effects even cascaded down to employees\u2019 children, who reported less volatility around their own daily stresses; adolescents saw the quality of their sleep improve.\u201d<\/p>\n Happiness is contagious \u2014 and so is stress \u2014 so it makes sense parents with lower levels of stress and higher levels of happiness were able to spread those emotions to their children.<\/p>\n For many remote workers, a sick day is just another day. A\u00a0recent report<\/a> found two-thirds of US workers feel remote work adds pressure to work through sickness. Another report <\/a>suggests workers feel obliged to clock in remotely, even if they’re ill.<\/p>\n Of course, not taking breaks \u2014 whether sick or not \u2014 can quickly lead to exhaustion and stress. In fact, remote work is not a “cure” for employee burnout. In fact, a 2021 study<\/a> found those\u00a0who work virtually are\u00a0<\/span>more<\/em> likely to say burnout has worsened over the years (38%) than are those working on site (28%).<\/span><\/p>\n Ultimately, providing flexible schedules for employees won\u2019t work for every company or every department.<\/p>\n For instance, if your employees work in the services industry and often speak both on the phone and in-person with clients, perhaps you need them to maintain a nine-to-five schedule.<\/p>\n Hopefully, weighing these pros and cons will help you make the best decision for your team, or even brainstorm alternative ways to combat some of the negative consequences of a traditional work schedule.<\/p>\n1. You can adapt your schedule to fit family needs. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. You can indulge in self-care. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Your employees can pursue passions outside of work.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
4. Your employees can work whenever they\u2019re most productive. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
5. Your employees can avoid rush hour. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
6. You give employees a sense of autonomy. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
7. You can recruit and retain better talent. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
1. It\u2019s more difficult for you to arrange meetings with your team. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. Lines between work and life blur more drastically. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. You won\u2019t find much structure at home. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
4. It can be difficult to create a bonded team. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Flexible Schedules: The Surprising<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. The more flexible your employees’ schedules are, the longer they\u2019ll work. <\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. Flex hours make your employees happier \u2014 and their children.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Remote workers are taking less sick days.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n