It would hardly be surprising if flexibility comes top of most people’s list of workplace qualities. Forty per cent of UK workers are now spending more than half a day a week working from the coffee shop, or ‘coffice’, according to research from O2 Business, and this trend for flexible working options is on the rise.
Small businesses are more attuned than most to that fact that to attract the best people and make sure they stay they need to make the company a nice, and accommodating, place to work. But as a small company how can you implement flexible working practices while making sure that all jobs get done? Is staff working remotely and at different hours compatible with growing a business? Here we outline seven top tips to make your business truly flexible:
Structure the flexibility
When you are small, retaining a strong company culture and efficient communication can be a challenge if staff work remotely and at different hours. Oren Greenberg, founder of digital marketing agency Kurve, discovered early that he needed to add structure to flexible working for his ten employees.
“In the beginning some employees started to work out of sync from regular business hours. I would be receiving emails at 3am or 4am and they would be unresponsive when we needed them during the day. As a result we introduced the core hours that everyone must be available for,” he says. Now staff has to be available between 11am and 3pm and everybody has to provide a few days notice if they want to work from home.
“I then update the team and the calendar to make sure we are all on the same page. It means client requests can be handled quickly and no-one is being blocked by someone else’s absence,” explains Greenberg.
Embrace the cloud
It seems an obvious point to make, but cloud technology has made flexible working possible for all sizes of companies. Cloud-based software such as Microsoft Office 365 from O2, for example, allows a mobile office to be set up almost instantly.
Dean Payne, the founder of Optimum Healthcare Solutions, says flexibility is key to keeping staff happy. Optimum’s 32 employees are dispersed across the country, so it’s essential that flexible working is as achievable as possible.
“Staff retention is important to me and I’m a huge advocate of cloud technology that enables my staff to lead flexible lives. This means they can work from home or remotely when they need to and still be securely connected to the office,” explains Payne.
Trust staff
Unsurprisingly, some entrepreneurs might be nervous about letting staff out of their sight where they can’t see that they are working. But Olly Headey, CTO and co-founder of accounting software company FreeAgent, says trusting your staff to do the right thing pays dividends.
“If you put your trust in your people and give them some freedom of choice over when and how they work, they respect that and as a result feel more obliged to be focused and dedicated to their work,” he says. At FreeAgent bank holidays are optional, and working from home is optional. “All that is required is producing great work,” says Headey.
Consider what roles are suited to flexible working
While many would probably like to make flexible working available to all, it’s important to recognise that some roles are just not suited to different hours or remote working.
“My role as MD certainly isn’t suited to flexible hours but the majority of the team can work from home,” says Greenberg from Kurve. Other team members are needed in the office too. “Our account managers are limited in their flexibility as the majority of our clients are in London so they need to be based here to attend meetings on a regular basis,” he explains.
Flexibility helps to attract and retain the best talent
For financial firm Sonovate, flexible working is in the DNA of the business as the two co-founders are based in different locations, London and Cardiff. “As we’re a new business operating in the fintech space, I need to ensure we can attract the very best talent to ensure future growth – the modern day workforce is mobile and dispersed and for us to attract and retain the best talent, we need to offer flexibility,” says CEO and co-founder Richard Prime.
The Sonovate team can operate from multiple locations, but remain in constant contact, hold meetings and share information instantly, using online applications like Google Hangouts for meetings. “This kind of flexibility works well for our business,” says Prime.
Organise your business to be flexible
Setting up your business to be nimble makes flexible working easy. At FreeAgent that means a lean physical working environment, according to Headey. “We’re particularly geared towards this at FreeAgent by only requiring a laptop and an internet connection, and we have a growing team of 60 that means we have the strength and depth to provide cover when some staff are unavailable,” he says.
The advantages to flexibility are countless. “You can drop your kids off at school, use your laptop to work from home, or a coffee shop, when you need to have some uninterrupted time to focus on a difficult problem, or to write that presentation you’ve been putting off for too long. It means less stress for employees, which means happier employees, all of which works in FreeAgent’s favour,” he says.
Move your business to a shared office space
Small technology business Cloudtags has grown so fast — from two to 22 people in the last two years — making it difficult to settle in one office space — they simply run out of space. Instead founder Ollie Bath has taken office space in a space shared with other entrepreneurs.
“Some of the best decisions and insights come from talking to those not in your line of business who can see the bigger picture. Working from a shared environment not only gives my team the flexibility to move about and travel as necessary but also become part of a wider community, which encourages creativity, and lateral thinking. My team feels part of a community not just part of a team sat in a single office.”
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with O2 Business, sponsor of the supporting business growth hub.
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