Creating an environment of flexibility is not just a nice thing for employees. COVID-19 has brought unexpected responsibilities and unprecedented stressors into employees’ lives, and the workplace must adapt accordingly.
American Psychological Association. (2024, May 16). Increase employees’ options for where, when, and how they work. https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/mental-health/flexible-work
Why this matters to leaders
- Research has long supported providing employees with a degree of control over their work environments. The key is to give employees the agency to select from among an array of reasonable options that balance business needs with their personal circumstances.
- An individual’s sense of autonomy has been shown to increase motivation and performance (PDF, 258KB)opens in new window, which can directly impact an organization’s bottom line.
- The value of a virtual or hybrid approach depends on an employee’s role, personality, current life circumstances, and work style.
- Virtual or hybrid work can provide flexibility for people with caregiving responsibilities, bypass location bias, and even facilitate opportunities for employees of all levels to share ideas by taking meetings out of the often intimidating conference room setting.
- Flexible work schedules may be important for some but not all employees or may be important to a particular employee at one point in time but not at another point in time.
What the research says
- Survey data suggest that organizations that are investing in remote-friendly (i.e., more autonomous) work (PDF, 763KB)opens in new window are viewed as creating more psychologically safe and inclusive work environments.
- Research suggests that workers with supervisors who prioritize family/work harmonyopens in new window experience greater job satisfaction and are less likely to leave their jobs (and incite costly turnover expenses).
- 34% of employees say that flexible hours would help their mental health (APA’s 2021 Work and Well-being Survey).
- 54% of employees working remotely say they would like to divide their time between home and officeopens in new window (October 2021 Gallup poll).
- 37% say they want to keep working from home full timeopens in new window (October 2021 Gallup poll).
Approaches to consider
- Take a critical look at what you require from your staff and prioritize effectiveness.
- Infuse and support effective use of principles of flexibility throughout the work environment.
- Allow employees to choose from among reasonable work options that balance business needs and employee well-being.
Acknowledgments
APA gratefully acknowledges the following contributors to this content.
CEOs Advancing Health Equity is a group of executives from some of the nation’s largest nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations who joined forces during the Covid-19 pandemic to improve health equity, with a focus on vaccines and mental health in the workplace.
