Why flexibility is critical for productivity & retention right now

Ever since the pandemic caused a shift to remote work, more employees value flexibility than ever before.

And that’s caused some new productivity trends to take shape that you should know about.

How flexibility affects employees’ productivity

To keep your best and brightest people from jumping ship to other companies and leaving you to deal with the high cost of turnover (or losses due to low productivity), here are five developments you should keep in mind at your company, courtesy of a recent survey of American professionals conducted by Robert Half.

1. Flexible work is the name of the game. According to 66% of those surveyed, their bosses care much more about their contributions to their companies than when and where they work. So, micromanaging people and forcing them to keep a traditional schedule isn’t going to fly in this landscape. Flexibility is key. Managers should be aware of that.
2. Employees are more productive earlier in the week. Regardless of whether they’re at home or in the office, workers get the most work done on Mondays and Tuesdays. This is good to keep in mind when you have the flexibility to set internal deadlines for key projects or objectives.
3. There are also certain hours of the day where your people get the most done. Per the Robert Half survey, employees hit their strides either in the late morning from 9 a.m. to noon or early afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. – another thing to keep in mind when considering deadlines.
4. Meetings continue to waste your people’s time. Unnecessary calls and meetings are still the top killer of productivity, regardless of if employees are working in the office or at home – as stated by 35% of respondents. Conversations with colleagues was the second biggest time-waster, according to 25% of those surveyed. If you can’t ditch certain meetings, it might be best to schedule them during the hours when people tend to be less productive.
5. Productivity increases at home. Home isn’t just where the heart is – it’s also where your people feel they get the most work done. Over a third of professionals (35%) said they accomplish more at home than they do at the office. While 21% said they’re equally productive in either setting, office workers said they perform much better if they’re in a private space (43%) versus a more collaborative one (16%). That’s something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about switching to an open office environment or if you have one without private workspaces.