Do your employees want more flexibility? Do not panic!

 RHéveil-matin is a daily column where managers and their employees are presented with inspiring solutions to get their day off to a good start. While sipping your favorite beverage, discover new tips to make your 9@5 productive and stimulating., RÉVEIL-MATIN.  If flexibility seems to be the panacea for many of the ills that have afflicted workers since the start of the pandemic, it can also generate its share of challenges for its boss, assures Margaret M. Luciano, professor of management at the Smeal business school. from the Pennsylvania State University in the United States.

Convinced that one person's need for freedom is not completely irreconcilable with the other's organizational imperatives, she identified four key elements that should appeal to both parties to successfully adopt a context. less rigid job.

Block collaborative moments in the schedule

We often think of collaboration breakdowns when the question of atypical schedules is raised. In environments where cooperation is inherent to the smooth running of the organization, Margaret M. Luciano recommends planning the times during which employees must work at the same time. These may in particular coincide with pivotal stages in the development of a project, such as its launch or even its handover.

You might also prefer to block specific periods in the calendar. “For example, the second week of the month, you might expect your employees to work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The rest of the time, they can choose when they complete their forty hours of work per week,” writes the professor in a  Harvard Business Review paper.

The end of vertical organizations

You should also reduce the number of colleagues who have to work together, she believes. Indeed, four teams of three employees will be more flexible and will be able to better adapt to the constraints of each of its members, unlike a single group of 12 employees.

There would also be little observation of these employees who put less of a hand in the dough and let a small group do the majority of the task, a phenomenon that we notice especially in organizations where overwork is not valued in the culture of business, writes Margaret M. Luciano.

This structure therefore not only reduces your time spent struggling with everyone's schedules, but it also allows you to better distribute the workload, which is now only the responsibility of a small number of workers.

The circulation of information is essential

Waiting for crucial confirmation from a colleague who is not working at the same time as you greatly affects productivity. Access to information being the sinews of the flexible work environment, it will therefore be necessary to ensure that everyone understands the importance of sharing the evolution of their tasks for the smooth running of your operations.

“That transparency” might even help you better understand what your colleagues are doing on a day-to-day basis if it's done without becoming too intrusive. And there are many tools to get there, says Margaret M. Luciano.

Not everything is a priority

In the context of flexible work, a manager must clearly understand what are the tasks that each of his employees must perform and how they affect the work of his colleagues. This will make it easier to recognize when to schedule collaboration days or even who to put in our smaller groups.

By having this overview, you will be able to clearly communicate to your employees which tasks are priorities, in order to avoid “bottlenecks” in your production pipeline as much as possible, emphasizes Margaret M. Luciano.