Employer Flexibility Breeds Employee Flexibility in Business and at Work

At this writing, I know of several local employers who don’t require their full-time employees to be onsite full-time.

Creative vocations – such as writing, graphic design and software development – practically speaking, can be accomplished anywhere.

My own areas of subject-matter expertise – nationwide HR / employee relations and corporate / inside recruiting – are also well-accomplished offsite. For example – instead of taking 6 of my 8 weeks of C-section-required-maternity leave unpaid, 16 years ago I performed my more-than-full-time job remotely and successfully for 6 of those weeks. My subsequent raise and bonus underscored that success.  And that flexibility only served to further cement my already strong commitment my employer, lasting nearly 10 years.

Technology has further facilitated flexibility and communication both ways between employers and employees, with platforms such as Basecamp, Zoom.net, Slack and texting augmenting the now-more traditional phone and email.

Of course, not all jobs, companies and industries lend themselves to flexible multi-site work schedules. However, even in those situations – I know of other employers who have creatively approached scheduling and paid time off that have the equivalent flexibility recruitment and retention impact – as well as (and most importantly) employee flexibility in return.

How does your employer flexibility breed employee flexibility (as well as successful recruitment and retention) in business and at work?